FROM   THE   LIBRARY  OF 
REV.   LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON.   D.  D. 

BEQUEATHED   BY   HIM   TO 

THE   LIBRARY  OF 

PRINCETON   THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


ULRIC  ZWINGLI. 


V 


^ 


•o> 


NOV  19  1931 


THE 


1/ 

MOUNTAIN  BOY 


OF 


WILDHAUS 


%  £tfe  of  Hlrk  Etomglt. 


BY  REV.  DAVID  VAN  HORNE,   D.D. 


PHILADELPHIA : 

REFORMED  CHURCH   PUBLICATION   BOARD, 

907  Arch  Steeet. 

1884. 


I 


COPYRIGHT 
BY  REV.  DAVID   VAN    HORNE. 

1884. 


PREFACE. 


The  four  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  birth-day  of 
Ulric  Zwingli,  which  occurs  on  January  1st,  1884,  is  the 
immediate  occasion  for  the  preparation  of  this  volume. 
Independent  of  this  fact,  however,  the  life  of  Zwingli  is 
worthy  of  careful  study;  for  although  many  nobles  and 
princes  of  his  times  are  now  forgotten,  the  Mountain  Boy 
of  Wildhaus  still  maintains  a  prominent  place  in  history. 
His  is  a  life  which  will  command  attention,  and  will  be 
more  appreciated  as  men  devote  themselves  to  its  study. 

In  the  following  pages  attention  is  especially  given  to 
the  events  of  the  earlier  years  of  his  life,  in  the  hope  of 
interesting  the  young.  We  trust  that  this  class  of  readers 
will  find  pleasure,  and  profit,  in  following  the  career  of  one 
who  began  life  in  a  humble  station,  and  attained  an  emi- 
nence in  the  world  of  letters,  equalled  only  by  the  signal 
services  he  rendered  to  his  native  country,  and  the  extensive 
work  he  wrought  for  the  reformation  of  the  church.  In 
each  aspect  of  his  life  Zwingli  presents  a  bold  and  striking 
figure,  well  calculated  to  arrest  the  attention  of  American 
youth ;  and  one  withal,  from  the  study  of  which,  they  can 
gain  inspiration  for  future  effort.  There  was  a  lofty,  intre- 
pid, and  noble  spirit  planted  in  this  Swiss  youth,  which 
always  brought  him  in  the  fore-front  of  every  conflict,  and 
rendered  his  career  one  of  incident  and  danger. 

The  recent  celebration  of  the  anniversary  of  Luther's 
birth-day  will  naturally  suggest  a  comparison  between  the 

3 


4  PREFACE. 

two  Reformers.  The  cause  of  the  Reformation  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  in  which  both  Luther  and  Zwingli  labored 
co-ordinately,  and,  at  the  first,  without  any  knowledge  of 
each  other's  views  and  efforts,  sheds  a  great  lustre  upon 
their  works  and  characters.  So  far  from  appearing  as  rivals, 
they  are  to  be  regarded  as  co-workers  in  a  common  cause. 
Each  one  worked  in  his  own  way,  and,  by  study  and  prayer, 
reached  his  own  conclusion.  Luther  stood  forth  promi- 
nently as  the  Reformer  of  Germany,  a  nation  with  extensive 
historic  connections,  which  afforded  him  the  support  of 
Electors  and  Princes,  and  speedily  spread  abroad  his  fame 
in  other  countries. 

Zwingli's  field  of  operation,  on  the  other  hand,  was  con- 
fined chiefly  to  Switzerland,  his  native  country  ;  he  had  only 
the  town-council  of  Zurich,  to  defend  him,  while,  for  many 
years,  his  powerful  enemies  lay  in  wait  to  cut  him  off. 
Under  these  circumstances,  the  extensive  work  wrought  by 
the  great  Swiss  Reformer,  appears  the  more  remarkable  and 
praiseworthy.  Protestantism  owes  him  a  greater  debt  than 
it  has  ever  yet  acknowledged;  and  hereafter  when  men 
begin  to  search  for  the  first  beginnings  of  a  pure  Reformed 
doctrine,  and  the  cultus  of  nearly  the  whole  Protestant 
church,  they  will  be  led  to  wonder  how  it  was  that  the 
pastor  of  Zurich  anticipated  what  the  future  generations 
would  adopt  a3  the  restored  form  of  primitive  Christianity. 


Philadelphia,  January  1st,  1884. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I.  . 

PAGE. 
WILDHAUS 7 


CHAPTER    II. 
BEGINNING   LIFE 13 

CHAPTER   III. 

GOING   TO   SCHOOL 23 

CHAPTER   IV. 

THE    YOUNG    PEIEST    AT   GLAEUS 37 

CHAPTER   V. 

"WAES    AND    EUMORS    OP   WAES 48 

CHAPTER   VI. 

FOES   NEAEEE    HOME 58 

CHAPTER  VII. 

LIFE   AT   THE   HEEMITAGE   OF    EINSIEDELN •      71 

5 


6  C0NTENT3. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

PAGE. 
PREACHING   TO    PILGRIMS  AT  EINSIEDELN 84 

CHAPTER   IX. 

A    CONFLICT    WITH    SAMSON 97 

CHAPTER   X. 
FROM    THE   HERMITAGE   TO   THE   CITY 107 

CHAPTER   XI. 

A   NEW   STYLE   OF    PREACHING 117 

CHAPTER   XII. 

SHADOWS   AND   SORROWS 130 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

BRAVE  EFFORTS  FOR  REFORM 144 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

DANGER    AND   DEFENCE 153 

CHAPTER    XV. 
MEETING    WITH    LUTHER 164 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

DEATH    AT   CAPPEL 174 


THE  MOUNTAIN  BOY 

OF 

VILDHAUS. 


A  IilFE  OF   UI.RIC  ZWINGLI. 


CHAPTER  I. 


WILDHAUS. 

Near  the  source  of  the  majestic  river,  called 
by  the  Swiss  and  German  people,  u  Father 
Rhine,"  there  still  stands  a  primitive-looking 
structure,  perched  against  a  spur  of  Mt.  Sentis, 
known  as  the  home  of  Zwingli.  It  is  a  plain 
but  massive  building,  erected  evidently  for  endu- 
rance, and  intended  as  a  safe  shelter  from  the 
roaring  Alpine  winds  which,  during  the  long 
winter  nights,  sweep  over  the  place.  And  here 
this  ancient-looking  dwelling  has  maintained  its 
position,  during  the  long,  and  eventful,  years 
which  have  transpired  since  the  days  when  a 
bright  and  promising  boy  played  there  nearly  four 
hundred  years  ago.  The  building  doubtless  has 
been  renewed  many  times ;  meanwhile  the  origi- 

7 


8  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

nal  timbers  may  have  all  fallen  into  decay,  and 
yet  the  identity  of  the  structure  remains,  the 
same  general  aspect  has  been  preserved,  and  to 
this  day  it  is  called  by  the  name  of  Zwingli. 

Not  far  away  from  this  ancient  structure  the 
traveler  may  see  the  church-spires  of  the  little 
village  of  Wildhaus.  This  village  is  rightly 
named ;  for  it  is  a  "  Wild-house  "  indeed.  Sit- 
uated far  up  among  the  rugged  Alps,  on  the 
water-shed  which  divides  the  waters  of  the  Thur 
from  those  of  the  Rhine,  it  presents  a  bold  figure 
in  the  landscape.  Every  year  many  tourists 
pass  through  Wildhaus,  all  of  whom  are  charmed 
with  its  mountain  prospects,  and  linger,  with 
pleasure,  around  the  place  where  the  Alp  scenery 
is  so  magnificent. 

Before  we  trace  the  interesting  career  of  the 
subject  of  our  sketch,  let  us  tarry,  for  a  few  mo- 
ments, here  to  view  the  place  of  his  birth.  Wild- 
haus has  a  sightly  situation,  and  we  may  be 
enabled  to  gain  new  views  of  our  subject  by 
glancing  at  its  environment.  First  of  all  we 
notice  the  magnificent  mountain  called  Sentis. 
This  is  now  in  the  direct  route  of  modern  tour- 
ists, and  therefore  we  can  well  afford  to  give  it 
more  than  passing  notice.  Sentis  stands  just  to 
the  north  of  Wildhaus,  and  as  it  rears  its  snow- 


WILDHAUS.  9 

crowned  head  8,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
sea,  appears  like  an  ancient  sentinel  keeping 
guard  over  the  little  village,  which  clings,  like 
an  eagle's  nest,  to  its  southern  slope.  From  the 
summit  of  Sentis  one  may  look  over  the  greater 
part  of  north-east  and  east  Switzerland;  em- 
bracing the  lake  of  Constance,  Swabia  and  Ba- 
varia, the  Tyrolese  mountains,  the  Grisons,  and 
the  Alps  of  Glarus,  and  of  Bern.  Just  behind 
the  mountain,  on  the  north,  lies  St.  Gaul ;  where, 
in  former  times,  was  a  noted  monastery  named 
after  its  founder ;  who  was,  according  to  tradi- 
tion, originally  a  missionary  from  Scotland,  or 
the  north  of  Ireland.  He  came  into  this  region 
of  country  when  the  whole  of  Switzerland  was 
a  wilderness  inhabited  by  the  rude  ancestors  of 
the  Swiss  and  Germans,  who,  before  this,  were 
idolaters ;  and  to  whom  he  taught  the  truths  of 
the  Christian  religion. 

It  was  the  seventh  century  when  St.  Gaul,  in 
company  with  the  missionary  Columban,  first 
appeared  in  the  country. 

Both  missionaries  labored  together  in  another 
part  of  Switzerland  for  some  time,  but  when, 
afterward,  persecutions  arose  against  their  work, 
Columban  went  to  Italy  and  labored  there.  But 
St.  Gaul  resolved  to  continue,  and  for  this  pur- 


10  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

pose  came  into  the  region  of  country  surround- 
ing Mt.  Sentis,  and,  in  company  with  a  deacon 
named  Hiltibad,  searched  for  a  suitable  location 
in  which  to  establish  a  mission.  At  the  first 
Hiltibad  was  fearful  that  their  work  would  be 
in  vain;  and  warned  the  missionary  that  he 
would  be  in  constant  danger,  for  the  forests  were 
filled  with  wolves  and  bears.  But  St.  Gaul  only 
replied :  "  If  the  Lord  be  for  us  who  can  be 
against  us  ?  He  who  protected  Daniel,  when  he 
was  in  the  lion's  den,  will  surely  protect  me." 
The  two  then  traveled  on  together  until  they 
came  to  a  place  where  the  river  Steinach,  as 
it  rushed  down  from  the  mountain  heights,  had 
hollowed  out  a  deep  place,  abounding  in  fish. 
Here  the  good  deacon,  in  imitation  of  the  early 
disciples,  cast  in  his  net,  and  obtained  an  abund- 
ant supply  of  the  finny  tribe.  It  was  at  this 
place  that  St.  Gaul  then  resolved  to  center  his 
work  for  the  cause  of  God ;  and  here,  afterwards, 
sprang  up  the  monastery  which  lasted  for  many 
centuries,  bearing  the  name  of  its  famous  founder. 
Standing  still  upon  the  summit  of  Sentis  we 
can  see  the  waters  of  the  lake  of  Constance  be- 
hind St.  Gaul ;  and  far  beyond,  in  the  north- 
east, may  be  seen  the  white  peaks  of  the  Tyro- 
lese  mountains. 


WILDHAUS.  11 

Turning  now  to  the  north,  and  west,  we 
may  see  the  beautiful  valley  of  the  Toggen- 
burg,  down  which  rushes  the  rapid  Thur.  And 
at  the  head  of  the  valley,  beside  the  springs 
which  are  its  perennial  source,  clinging,  as  it 
were,  to  the  side  of  old  Sentis,  stands  the  cottage 
in  which  we  are  now  specially  interested,  where 
Zwingli  was  born.  Looking  beyond  this  point, 
only  a  few  miles  farther  towards  the  south- 
west, we  note  the  tranquil  waters  of  the  lake  of 
Wallenstadt,  or  a  Wallensee,"  as  it  was  formerly 
called.  It  is  twelve  miles  in  length  and  three 
in  width ;  at  the  east  end  of  it  lies  the  village  of 
Wallenstadt,  and  at  the  west  end  stands  the 
beautiful  town  of  Wesen,  also  famous  in  Refor- 
mation circles,  in  after  times.  Still  farther 
northward,  and  over  fifty  miles  from  Wildhaus, 
stands  the  stately  city  of  Zurich,  where  Zwingli 
in  after  years  wrought  his  greatest  work  of  re- 
formation. A  little  to  the  south  of  this,  and 
across  the  lake  of  Zurich,  stands  Einsiedeln, 
another  point  made  famous  by  the  early  labors 
of  Zwingli.  And  still  farther  away,  on  the  hori- 
zon of  the  south-west,  lie  the  cities  of  Bern  and 
Basel,  where  Zwingli  once  pursued  his  studies. 
We  only  add  that  to  the  eastward,  a  few 
miles  distant  from  Wildhaus,  flow  swiftly  on- 
ward the  clear  blue  waters  of  the  upper  Rhine. 


12  THE   MOUNTAIN  BOY. 

Thus  we  notice  that  the  location  of  our  little 
village  is  very  picturesque  and  charming. 
Perched  upon  the  southern  face  of  a  lofty  moun- 
tain, which  rears  its  snow-clad  summit  against 
the  blue  Alpine  sky ;  with  chains  of  lakes  and 
running  streams  so  connected  as  to  form  a  vast 
surrounding  triangle :  reaching  from  Zurich  on 
the  west  by  the  way  of  the  Zurich  and  Wallen- 
stadt  lakes,  to  the  river  Rhine  on  the  east ; 
thence  to  the  lake  of  Constance  on  the  north- 
east, and  by  another  reach  of  the  Rhine  back 
again  to  Zurich.  This  vast  triangular  section 
of  country,  framed  about  with  lakes  of  the 
utmost  picturesqueness  and  beauty,  tied  together 
with  silver-threaded  rivulets ;  with  its  hoary 
peak  of  Sentis  in  the  center,  subdivided  by  the 
wild,  and  rapid  torrent  of  the  Thur  which  sweeps 
away  northward  through  the  valley  of  the  Tog- 
genburg,  fed  as  it  is  by  the  fountains  at  Wild- 
haus,  and  the  glacier  on  Mt.  Sentis  :  all  this 
forms  a  landscape  at  once  bold  and  beautiful. 
This  was  a  suitable  spot  for  the  birth-place  of 
the  great  Swiss  Reformer ;  for  here  nature  has 
displayed  her  grandeur  in  unusual  form.  And 
on  these  Alpine  heights  God  raised  up  stalwart 
sons,  who,  in  after  times,  fought  the  world's 
battle  of  conscience  and  intellectual  freedom. 


; 


CHAPTER  II. 

BEGINNING   LIFE. 

lN~a  plain,  but  substantial,  dwelling  located 
on  the  green  meadow  which  stretches  along  the 
right  hand  side  of  the  highway  leading  out  of 
"Wildhaus  towards  the  east,  as  has  been  already- 
intimated,  we  recognize  the  birth-place  of  the 
great  Reformer.  In  the  latter  half  of  the  fif- 
teenth century  there  lived  here  at  the  border  of 
the  village  of  Wildhaus,  surrounded  by  their  nu- 
merous flock  of  children,  a  respectable  and  pious 
couple,  Huldreich  Zwingli  and  Margaritha, 
whose  maiden  name  was  Meili.  Through  the 
esteem  in  which  this  man  was  held  by  his  fel- 
low-citizens, he  had  been  raised  to  the  honored 
position  of  Amman,  or  Magistrate  of  the  village. 

This  honor  they  had  placed  upon  him  as  soon 
as  they  had  obtained  the  authority,  to  elect 
their  magistrate,  their  judges,  and  their  pastor. 
In  former  years  the  people  were  not  allowed 
this  privilege.     But  after  long  continued  agita- 

13 


14  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

tion,  they  had  succeeded  in  wresting  the  right 
from  the  Abbot  of  St.  Gaul,  who  in  former  times 
had  despotic  authority  over  all  this  section  of 
country.  In  its  church  government  Wildhaus 
had  been  under  the  control  of  Gams  ;  but  in  this 
relation  it  had  also  been  freed  from  foreign  rule, 
and  had  been  raised  to  the  position  of  an  inde- 
pendent community.  In  the  first  exercise  of 
this  privilege  the  people  had  elected  Bartholo- 
mew Zwingli,  the  brother  of  the  Magistrate, 
their  pastor.  Thus  we  see  that  the  Zwingli 
family  held  a  high  place  in  the  esteem  of  the 
Wildhausers.  Besides  this,  John  Meili,  a 
brother  of  the  Magistrate's  wife,  was  the  honored 
abbot  of  Fischingen. 

The  family  of  the  Magistrate  consisted  of 
eight  sons  and  two  daughters.  Ulric,  the  third 
son,  of  whom  we  are  now  to  hear  at  length,  was 
born  on  the  first  day  of  January,  1484,  seven 
weeks  after  Luther's  birth-day.  Though  his  fa- 
ther was  the  chief  man  of  the  village,  little  Ulric 
was  not  to  be  reared  in  luxury.  The  Magis- 
trate's house  was  only  a  plain  farmer's  dwelling. 
Rough  timbers  composed  its  walls,  and  its  roof 
was  secured  by  the  weight  of  great  stones  laid 
upon  it,  to  keep  it  in  place  against  the  fury  of 
the  winds.     This  house,  however,  was  the  home 


BEGINNING   LIFE.  15 

of  a  pious  couple,  and  here  many  happy  hours 
were  spent  by  the  children,  who  shared  in  the 
innocent  joys  of  a  Christian  household. 

The  parents  lived  in  freedom  and  truth  with 
one  another.  The  wife  and  mother  was  honored 
not  only  by  her  ten  children,  but  also  by  the 
villagers,  and  by  the  serving-maids  and  boys, 
who  dwelt  with  them,  and  attended  to  the  wants 
of  the  household  and  cultivated  the  meadow- 
land,  or  followed  the  herds  and  flocks,  to  their 
pasture  on  the  Alpine  heights.  It  was  the  cus- 
tom then,  to  tell  the  stories  of  the  olden  times 
to  the  children  during  the  long  winter  evenings  ; 
and  the  father  would  often  sit,  with  a  neighbor, 
at  the  fireside,  and  relate  the  traditions  of  the 
Toggenburg  valley.  This  valley  was  associated 
with  many  events  of  early  Swiss  history;  when 
the  inhabitants  had  to  secure  themselves  against 
the  inroads  of  Charles  the  Bold,  by  joining  the 
brave  confederates  who  rolled  back  the  enemy 
like  avalanches  from  their  mountain  steeps. 

To  these  stirring  tales,  young  Ulric  was  one 
of  the  most  eager  listeners.  The  stories  fell  like 
living  sparks  of  fire  on  his  soul,  and  in  the  age 
of  manhood  they  burst  forth  into  an  ardent  love 
of  home  and  native  country. 

The  following  poem  of  Schiller,  will  give  an 


16  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

idea  of  what  these  stories  were  like.  A  brave 
Knight  of  Toggenburg,  finding  that  the  lady  of 
his  choice  has  entered  a  convent : 

"  Springs  upon  his  steed  ; 

Summons  every  faithful  vassal 

From  his  Alpiue  home ; 

Binds  the  cross  upon  his  bosom, 

Seeks  the  Holy  Tomb." 
There  full  many  a  deed  of  glory 

Wrought  the  hero's  arm  ; 
Foremost  still  his  plumage  floated, 

Where  the  foemen  swarm  ; 
Till  the  Moslem,  terror-stricken, 

Quailed  before  his  name ; — 
But  the  pang  that  wrings  his  bosom, 

Lives  at  heart  the  same. 
One  long  year  he  bears  his  sorrow, 

But  no  more  can  bear  ; 
Best  he  seeks,  but  finding  never, 

Leaves  the  army  there  ; 
Sees  a  ship  by  Joppa's  haven, 

Which,  with  swelling  sail, 
Wafts  him  where  his  lady's  breathing, 

Mingles  with  the  gale. 
At  her  father's  castle-portal, 

Hark  !  his  knock  is  heard  : 
See  !  the  gloomy  gate  uncloses 

With  the  thunder  word  : 
"  She  thou  seek'st  is  veiled  forever, 

Is  the  bride  of  heaven  ; 
Yester-eve  the  vows  were  plighted — 

She  to  God  is  given." 


BEGINNING   LIFE.  17 

Then  his  old  ancestral  castle 

He  forever  flees ; 
Battle-steed  and  trusted  weapon, 

Never  more  he  sees. 
From  the  Toggenburg  descending 

Forth  unknown  he  glides  ; 
For  the  frame  once  sheathed  in  iron 

Now  the  sackcloth  hides. 

There  beside  that  hallowed  region, 

He  hath  built  his  bower, 
Where  from  out  the  dusky  lindens, 

Looked  the  convent-tower  ; 
"Waiting  from  the  morning's  glimmer 

Till  the  day  was  done, 

Tranquil  hope  in  every  feature, 

Sat  he  there  alone. 
******** 

If  that  form  looked  forth  so  lovely, 

If  the  sweet  face  smiled, 
Down  into  the  lonesome  valley, 

Peaceful,  angel  mild. 
There  a  corse  they  found  him  sitting, 

Once  when  they  returned, 
Still  his  pale  and  placid  features, 

To  the  lattice  turned." 

At  other  times  Ulric  would  listen  to  the  ac- 
counts given  by  his  pious  Grandmother,  of  still 
earlier  periods,  when  the  godly  missionaries  first 
penetrated  into  the  dense  forests  of  that  region 
of  country  ;  men  like  the  holy  Felix  and  Reg- 
ula,  who  went  through  the  land,  and  taught  the 
people  the  Word  and  cross.  Then  again  she 
2 


18  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

told  the  stirring  Bible  stories,  the  adventures 
of  the  patriarchs,  or  prophets  ;  or  toid  of  Him 
who  hung  upon  Calvary's  cross  that  He  might 
be  a  Saviour  to  perishing  sinners.  At  such 
times  the  little  Ulric  was  always  an  eager 
listener ;  his  beaming  eye  and  heaving  breast 
testified  that,  in  one  heart  at  least,  the  Word  of 
God  was  finding  a  ready  response ;  a  response 
which  should  not  be  completely  fulfilled  until 
when,  in  after  years,  he  should  become  a  true 
minister  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ. 

Thus  the  childhood  of  Zwingli  passed  away. 
In  this  homely  but  cheerful  dwelling  was  often 
heard  the  sweet  strain  of  some  musical  instru- 
ment ;  and  there  during  those  long  winter  even- 
ings, Ulric  used  to  try  his  hand  at  the  wild 
Alpine  melodies  which  to  this  day  delight  the 
traveler  who  may  chance  to  pass  through  the 
land.  These  youthful  efforts  were  the  alphabet 
of  that  elaborate  musical  culture,  which  dis- 
tinguished him  in  after  years,  and  enabled  him 
in  part  to  accomplish  his  great  work  in  the  world, 
in  behalf  of  culture  and  religion.  But  beyond 
this  he  displayed  such  gifts,  that  every  one 
marked  his  wise  and  thoughtful  spirit,  which 
from  the  first  distinguished  him  from  the  other 
children  of  the  Magistrate's  family. 


BEGINNING   LIFE.  19 

From  early  years  he  was  a  great  lover  of 
nature.  The  language  in  which  God  speaks  to 
the  inhabitants  of  the  mountain  regions  seemed 
to  move  his  young  spirit.  In  after  years  his 
friend  Oswald  Myconius  wrote  :  "  I  have  often 
thought,  in  my  simplicity,  that  from  these  sub- 
lime heights,  which  stretch  up  towards  heaven, 
he  has  learned  something  heavenly  and  divine." 

When  the  spring  opened,  each  year,  the  older 
sons  and  serving  boys,  hastened  to  lead  the 
herds,  and  flocks,  away  to  the  mountain  pastures. 
Usually  in  the  first  days  of  May,  as  soon  as  the 
mountains  put  on  their  coats  of  green,  the  cattle 
are  driven  up,  amid  the  merry  tinkling  of  bells, 
to  the  higher  pastures,  and  ever  higher  and 
higher,  a  part  of  the  inhabitants  continue  to 
ascend  until,  at  the  end  of  July,  the  loftiest 
heights  of  Sentis  are  reached.  The  younger 
children,  who  are  left  at  home  during  the  sum- 
mer-time, to  attend  to  the  affairs  of  the  house, 
and  to  gather  the  provender  for  the  cattle  during 
wTinter,  sometimes  hasten  up  the  mountain  steeps 
to  celebrate  with  their  companions,  who  are 
tending  the  flocks,  merry  pastoral  sports,  in 
which  the  joyous  notes  of  song  mix  themselves 
with  the  simple  tone  of  the  Alpine  horn. 

As  years  passed  on  Ulric  would  naturally  have 


20  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

more  liberty  accorded  to  him,  in  which  he  could 
observe  the  grandeur  and  beauty  of  the  outlying 
Alpine  world,  and  begin  to  meditate  on  its  mys- 
teries. And  thus  there  first  awoke  in  his  mind 
the  sense  of  the  awful  grandeur,  and  majesty,  of 
God, — a  sentiment  which  in  after  years  was  des- 
tined to  give  him  almost  indomitable  courage  in 
the  great  conflicts  through  which  he  was  to 
pass.  In  the  solitude  of  the  mountains,  broken 
only  by  the  bells  of  his  pasturing  flocks,  the  re- 
flective boy  mused  on  the  wisdom  of  God,  which 
reveals  itself  in  all  creatures.  Inspired  by  these 
musings  doubtless  he  was  led  in  after  years  to 
compose  a  work  on  "  The  Providence  of  God." 
In  this  work  he  alludes  to  the  sagacity  of  the 
little  mice,  which  he  had  often  watched  in  child- 
hood days ;  and  discourses  delightfully  on  the 
cunning  little  harvesters,  as  they  make  wagons 
of  each  other,  and  forks,  by  rolling  the  hay 
along,  and  using  each  other  for  hurdles  in  order 
to  carry  the  hay  to  their  winter  nests. 

Then  he  rises  to  higher  planes  of  thought  and 
says :  "  Do  not  even  the  things  without  sense 
and  intelligence  manifest  that  the  power,  the 
goodness,  the  renewing  and  sustaining  energy 
of  God  is  present  with  them  ?  The  earth,  for 
example,   the  mother  of  us  all,   never  shuts 


BEGINNING   LIFE.  21 

ruthlessly  her  rich  treasures  within  herself;  she 
heeds  not  the  wounds  made  on  her  by  spade  or 
share.  The  dew,  the  rain,  the  rivers,  all  moisten, 
restore,  quicken  within  her  that  which  had  been 
brought  to  a  stand  still  in  growth  by  drought, 
and  its  after  thriving  testifies  wondrously  of  the 
divine  power.  The  mountains  too,  these  gigan- 
tic, rude,  inert  masses,  which  give  to  the  earth, 
as  the  bones  to  the  flesh,  solidity,  form,  and  con- 
sistency, which  render  impossible  or  at  least 
difficult,  the  passage  from  one  place  to  another, 
which  although  heavier  than  the  earth  itself, 
yet  soar  far  above  it,  and  never  sink ;  do  they 
not  proclaim  the  imperishable  might  of  Jehovah, 
and  speak  forth  the  whole  volume  of  his  majesty  ? 
In  those  works  of  God  we  behold  proofs  of  the 
divine  existence,  and  of  the  power,  which  sustains 
them  all  in  being,  not  less  than  man  himself. " 

To  one  thus  familiar  with  the  grandeur  of 
Alpine  scenery,  from  his  youth,  the  love  of  that 
which  is  grand,  and  beautiful,  must  have  pro- 
duced a  lasting  influence  on  his  spirit.  And  he 
could  doubtless  say  of  his  own  "  Sentis  "  what 
Coleridge,  in  his  matchless  "  Hymn  '  says  of 
Mt.  Blanc: 

"  0  dread  and  silent  Mount !  I  gazed  upon  thee, 
Till  thou,  still  present  to  the  bodily  sense, 


22  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

Didst  vanish  from  my  thought ;  entranced  in  prayer 
I  worshipped  the  Invisible  alone. 

Yet,  like  some  sweet  beguiling  melody, 

So  sweet,  we  know  not  we  are  listening  to  it, 

Thou,  the  meanwhile,  wast  blending  with  my  Thought, 

Yea  with  my  Life  and  Life's  own  secret  Joy : 

Till  the  dilating  soul,  enrapt,  transfused, 

Into  the  mighty  vision  passing — there, 

As  in  her  natural  form,  swelled  vast  to  Heaven!" 

"  Thou  too,  hoar  Mount !  with  thy  sky-pointing  Peaks, 

Oft  from  whose  feet  the  Avalanche,  unheard, 

Shoots  downward,  glittering  through  the  pure  Serene 

Into  the  depth  of  Clouds,  that  veil  thy  breast — 

Thou  too,  again,  stupendous  Mountain  !  thou 

That  as  I  raise  my  head,  awhile  bowed  low 

In  adoration,  upward  from  thy  Base 

Slow  travelling  with  dim  eyes  suffused  with  tears, 

Solemnly  seemest,  like  a  vapoury  cloud, 

To  rise  before  me — Rise,  0  ever  rise, 

Rise  like  a  cloud  of  Incense,  from  the  Earth  ! 

Thou  kingly  Spirit  throned  among  the  hills, 

Thou  dread  Ambassador  from  Earth  to  Heaven, 

Great  Hierarch  !  tell  thou  the  silent  Sky, 

And  tell  the  Stars,  and  tell  yon  rising  Sun, 

Earth  with  her  thousand  voices  praises  God 


CHAPTER  IIL 

GOING  TO   SCHOOL. 

The  time  had  now  come  when  little  Ulric 
was  to  leave  the  home  of  his  childhood,  and  go 
out  into  the  world  in  search  of  an  education. 
The  school  privileges  at  Wildhaus  seem  to  have 
been  very  indifferent.  In  many  parts  of  the 
land,  in  those  times,  there  were  no  provisions 
made  for  the  regular  instruction  of  the  children ; 
but  in  some  places  there  were  schools  taught  by 
men  who  had  only  a  smattering  of  learning,  who, 
of  course,  could  do  little  more  than  give  the 
mere  rudiments  of  a  primary  course  of  instruc- 
tion. In  some  cases  older  students,  under  the 
name  of  Lehrmeisters,  traveled  around,  often- 
times with  their  wives,  practising  their  vocations, 
and  hiring  themselves  out  for  longer  or  shorter 
periods.  An  old  painting,  or  two,  still  preserved 
in  the  Museum  at  Basel,  exhibit  the  interior  of 
a  school-room.  There  the  children  are  seen  sit- 
ting, or  kneeling,  on  the  floor  with  their  books, 

23 


24  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

whilst  the  Master,  with  rod  in  hand,  is  teaching 
a  boy  at  the  desk,  while  the  teacher's  wife  is 
seen  teaching  a  girl  in  the  opposite  corner. 

In  those  schools  the  children  and  adults 
frequently  sat  on  the  same  bench.  Of  course 
there  was  nothing  like  thorough  knowledge 
among  the  masters,  nothing  like  a  division  into 
classes,  or  a  regular  plan  of  instruction.  Just  as 
the  natural  talent  of  the  teacher  was  greater  or 
less,  were  the  results  better  or  worse.  And  yet 
such  was  the  only  education  of  a  large  majority 
of  the  people.  Indeed  thousands  were  destitute 
of  even  this. 

Whipping  was  generally  depended  upon  in 
order  to  preserve  order,  and  to  quicken  the 
forces  of  intellect.  The  supply  of  whips  was 
generally  to  be  provided  by  the  scholars  them- 
selves. Once  each  year  a  holiday  was  observed, 
known  as  the  "  Procession  of  the  Rods/'  in  which 
the  pupils  went  out  into  the  summer  woods,  and 
came  back,  heavily  ladened  with  Birch-twigs, 
cracking  jokes  by  the  way,  and  singing : 

"  Ye  fathers  and  ye  mothers  good, 
See  us  with  the  birchen-wood 
Loaded  coming  home  again  ; 
For  our  profit  it  shall  serve, 
Not  for  injury  or  pain. 


GOING  TO   SCHOOL.  25 

Your  will  and  the  command  of  God 
Have  prompted  us  to  bear  the  rod 
On  our  own  bodies  thus  to-day, 
Not  in  angry,  sullen  mood, 
But  with  spirits  glad  and  gay." 

The  course  of  instruction  embraced,  usually, 
three  branches  only :  Grammar ;  Music,  for 
which  the  children  should  have  been  extremely 
grateful ;  and  Logic,  which  could  not  have  been 
of  any  great  profit  to  their  untrained  intellects. 
Indeed  the  music  must  have  been  the  redeeming 
feature  of  these  primitive  institutions.  And  it 
was  what  the  Swiss  children  loved  above  all 
else.  The  bright,  and  quick  intellect  of  little 
Ulric  began  to  manifest  itself  very  early.  His 
parents  noticed,  with  pleasure,  the  interest  he 
took  in  all  matters  of  education.  His  uncle 
Bartholomew,  who  was  now  the  minister  of  the 
church  at  Wesen,  had  also  drawn  the  attention 
of  his  parents  to  his  qualities  which  would  fit 
him  to  become  a  student.  And  so  when  he  had 
attained  his  ninth  year  his  father,  one  day,  set 
out  with  him  for  the  village  which  was  some 
twelve  miles  distant,  where  his  uncle  resided. 
As  this  was  his  first  journey  away  from  home 
it  must  have  been  fraught  with  great  interest 
to  the  youthful  traveler.     One  who  was  very 


26  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

familiar  with  the  locality  thus  describes  the 
road.  u  He  crossed  the  grassy  summits  of  the 
Ammon,  avoiding  the  wild  and  bold  rocks  which 
border  the  lake  of  Wallenstadt,  and  arriving  at 
the  village,  entered  the  dwelling  of  the  uncle, 
his  father's  brother.  "  You  have  put  lofty  ideas 
into  Ulric's  head,"  said  the  father  to  his  brother, 
u  and  now  I  have  brought  him,  so  that  you  may 
try  what  he  can  do/'  "  Right  gladly  will  I 
measure  him,"  said  the  uncle.  Then  turning  to 
the  lad  he  said  :  "  So  you  will  now  be  a  son  to 
your  uncle  Ulric."  And  thus  informally  was 
the  boy  installed  into  his  new  home. 

When  the  young  scholar  began  to  look  about 
him,  he  found  that  his  lot  was  cast  in  a  beautiful 
spot.  Wesen  as  we  have  seen  lies  upon  the  hill- 
side at  the  western  end  of  the  beautiful  lake  of 
Wallenstadt,  which  is  scarcely  inferior  to  the 
lake  of  Lucern  in  mountainous  grandeur.  All 
along  its  northern  side  the  mountains  stand  in 
serried  ranks,  in  places  almost  precipitous  above 
the  deep  blue  waters.  Did  Ulric  long  to  climb, 
once  more  a  mountain  steep,  for  a  holiday,  he 
had  only  to  bound  away  up  the  steep  sides  of 
the  u  Speer,"  a  romantic  peak  rising  behind  the 
village,  and  he  would  have  a  commanding  pros- 
pect spread  out  before  him. 


GOING  TO   SCHOOL.  27 

It  is  likely  that  the  school  which  Ulric  at- 
tended, in  Wesen,  was  of  the  poor  grade  already 
mentioned.  It  is  thought  that  the  teacher  only 
received  as  compensation  what  the  scholars  could 
beg  for  him  in  the  streets,  where  they  sang  their 
school  songs  under  the  windows  of  the  houses. 
Here  the  mountain  boy  of  Wildhaus,  as  he  may 
have  been  called,  came  in  contact  with  boys  who 
were  guilty  of  deception  and  falsehood.  From  a 
child  he  had,  what  all  noble  natures  have,  a  hor- 
ror at  the  thought  of  lying.  He  once  said  in 
after  years  :  "  Lying  ought  to  be  more  severely 
punished  than  theft.  Hypocrisy  is  worse  than 
stealing.  Falsehood  is  the  beginning  of  all  evil. 
Man  most  resembles  God  by  being  true.  Glo- 
rious is  the  truth,  full  of  majesty,  commanding 
the  respect  of  the  wicked." 

His  uncle  soon  perceived  that  the  Wesen 
school  could  do  nothing  more  for  Ulric.  The 
scholar  was  already  too  far  advanced  for  his 
teacher ;  some  more  advanced  school  must  be 
found  for  him.  After  consultation  with  his 
parents,  it  was  resolved  to  send  him  away  to 
Basel.  It  was  a  great  way  from  home  to  be 
sure ;  an  hundred  miles  at  least ;  and  only  slow 
methods  of  travel  were  known  in  that  day. 

Basel  and  Geneva  are  the  gateways  to   Swit- 


28  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

zerland.  The  one  stands  at  the  north-west 
angle,  where  the  majestic  Rhine  issues  forth 
from  the  glacier-fed  springs  and  clear  blue  lakes, 
which  ever  supply  his  mighty  current.  The 
other  stands  on  the  less  majestic  Rhone,  which 
opens  a  gateway  through  the  mountains  to 
France  and  the  Mediterranean  Sea. 

To  this  day  Basel  is  noted  for  its  schools ; 
even  for  its  schools  of  theology.  But  when 
Ulric  arrived  there,  the  fame  of  the  city,  in  this 
respect,  was  already  well  established,  for  its 
University,  founded  in  1464,  was  then  resorted 
to  from  all  parts  of  the  west,  by  the  youth 
who  sought  a  liberal  education.  Besides  this, 
Basel  was  noted  for  its  publishing  interests, 
which,  at  that  time,  were  just  beginning  to  be 
appreciated  at  something  like  their  true  value  ; 
the  printing-press  had  then  only  been  lately 
invented,  and  all  learned  men  understood  what 
a  great  advantage  would  result  from  having  the 
printed  texts  of  classical,  and  other  works,  used 
in  the  higher  instruction  given  at  the  univer- 
sities. 

And  then  there  were  a  number  of  learned 
men,  like  the  Wessels,  and  Wittenbachs,  and 
above  all,  Erasmus  of  Rotterdam,  who  were 
engaged  in  giving   instruction,  in   the  higher 


GOING   TO   SCHOOL.  29 

grades  of  learning,  at  Basel.  However,  the 
mounta;n-boy  of  Wildhaus  is  yet  too  young  to 
avail  himself  of  these  advanced  teachers ;  and 
so  he  is  sent  to  the  Theodore  school,  an  institu- 
tion presided  over  by  Gregory  Binzli,  an  excel- 
lent, not  unlearned  man,  of  a  very  amiable 
disposition.  He  took  a  great  liking  to  Zwingli, 
who  soon  stood  in  the  foremost  rank  among  his 
school  fellows,  a  master  in  debate,  and  the 
possessor  of  an  extraordinary  talent  for  music. 
Learned  discussions,  much  in  vogue  in  that  day, 
among  the  doctors  of  universities,  had  descended 
even  to  the  children  of  the  schools.  Uiric  took 
part  in  them,  and  in  contest  with  the  pupils  of 
other  schools,  frequently  bore  off  the  prize. 
His  signal  success  in  these  efforts,  it  is  said, 
aroused  the  jealousy  of  his  seniors ;  and  his 
teacher,  perceiving  that  his  school  was  not 
adapted  to  the  capacities  of  his  pupil  any  longer, 
after  three  years,  sent  him  home,  with  the  ad- 
vice that  he  should  be  sent  to  a  more  advanced 
school. 

Ulric  was  now  about  13  years  of  age.  He 
was  bright  and  vivacious,  and  his  musical  tal- 
ents began  to  develop  themselves  in  an  extraor- 
dinary degree,  and  to  excite  universal  admira- 
tion.    It  could  not  be  expected  that  his  parents 


30  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

would  now  arrest  him  in  his  course  of  study ; 
and  give  him  charge  once  more  of  their  herds 
and  flocks  at  Wildhaus.  A  conference  was  held 
between  them  and  his  uncle  Bartholomew,  as 
before,  the  result  of  which  was  that  the  lad  was 
sent  to  school  at  a  city  nearly  as  far  distant 
from  home  as  Basel  was. 

Preparations  began  at  once  to  be  made,  and 
not  many  days  had  passed  ere  the  mountain-boy 
was  on  his  way  towards  the  city  of  Bern, 
whither  his  parents  had  now  resolved  to  send 
him. 

The  city  of  Bern  is  said  to  have  been  founded 
in  the  year  1191,  by  Berthold  Vth,  who  gave  it 
the  name  "  Baren,"  in  German  signifying  a 
bear,  because  he  had  killed  a  bear  on  the  spot. 
It  is  situated  on  the  banks  of  the  Aare,  which, 
in  the  winding  course  it  follows  at  this  point, 
encompasses  the  promontory  on  which  the  city 
stands,  on  three  sides.  The  modern  city  has  an 
imposing  appearance  from  a  distance,  and  a 
nearer  view  discloses  one  of  the  best  and  most 
regularly  built  towns  in  Europe,  as  it  is  the 
finest  in  Switzerland. 

At  almost  every  point  the  traveller  sees 
something  at  Bern  to  remind  him  of  the  origi- 
nal bruin,  which  was  slain  here  so  many  years 


GOING  TO   SCHOOL.  31 

ago.  At  one  point  lie  will  suddenly  come  upon 
two  granite  columns,  formed  by  the  sculptor  to 
represent  gigantic  bears  in  the  act  of  rearing, 
and  ready  to  seize  their  prey.  In  another  place 
bruin  is  seen,  equipped  with  shield,  sword,  ban- 
ner, and  helmet.  A  whole  troop  of  bears  go 
through  a  performance  en  the  dial  of  the  town- 
clock,  two  minutes  before  every  hour.  Images 
of  bears  are  for  sale  at  all  the  market  stalls ; 
and  a  stranger  is  apt  to  think  that  Bruin  must 
be  the  patron  saint  of  the  city. 

The  people  of  Bern  seem  to  have  been  a  mer- 
ry race  from  the  beginning.  The  scenery  sur- 
rounding it  is  delightful ;  the  windings  of  the 
Aare  give  it  picturesqueness,  and  a  wild  beauty, 
and  in  the  distance  one  may  see  the  ever 
majestic  Alps. 

When  young  Zwingli  came  hither  he  entered 
the  school  of  Henry  Lupulus.  His  teacher  was 
noted  for  his  correct  knowledge  of  the  ancient 
Classics,  and  he  soon  infused  a  spirit  of  research 
and  study  in  this  direction,  on  the  part  of  his 
pupil,  Ulric,  who  was  only  too  well  pleased  to 
pursue  the  studies  marked  out  for  him  by  his 
teacher.  He  was  very  proficient  here,  as  he  had 
been  at  Basel.  The  teacher  had  made  a  pilgrim- 
age to  Jerusalem,  and  was  accustomed  to  speak 


32  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

of  Palestine  to  his  pupils,  as  of  a  land  of  peculiar 
interest,  because  of  its  sacred  associations. 
Under  Lupulus  Ulric  acquired  a  flowing  style 
in  writing  and  speaking.  He  became  a  good 
scholar,  not  in  the  corrupt  monks'  Latin,  but 
learned  the  highly  cultivated,  clear,  powerful 
language,  which  had  come  down  from  classical 
times.  He  learned  to  speak  Latin,  he  afterward 
said,  better  than  he  spoke  his  native  tongue. 
He  also  became  familiar  with  the  history  of 
the  most  celebrated  Republic  of  antiquity,  which, 
to  the  Swiss,  themselves  the  citizens  of  a  free 
country,  was  full  of  interest. 

Ulric  also  zealously  applied  himself  to  music ; 
and  learned  to  play  on  all  the  instruments  then 
known,  including  the  lute,  with  which  he  ac- 
companied his  singing.  This  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  Dominican  friars,  who  were 
anxious  to  have  him  enter  their  order,  that  they 
might  profit  by  his  musical  talents,  and  thus 
offset  their  rivals,  the  Franciscans.  But  the 
eye  of  God  watched  over  the  lad,  and  preserved 
him  from  the  snares  of  these  corrupted  monks. 
His  father  and  uncle  heard  of  the  danger  which 
impended  over  him,  and  they  recalled  him  home, 
to  send  him  elsewhere.  He  was  now  prepared 
for  the  high  school,  and  they  accordingly  de- 


GOING  TO   SCHOOL.  33 

cided  to  send  him  to  Vienna,  where  a  celebrated 
school  was  established. 

At  this  school  the  mountain-boy  formed  the 
acquaintance  of  two  Swiss  students,  Joachim 
Von  Watt,  called  Vadian,  and  Henry  Loreti, 
who  was  sometimes  called  Glareanus,  because 
he  came  from  Glarus.  The  three  Swiss  youths, 
united  in  the  bonds  of  close  friendship,  devoted 
themselves,  with  great  success,  to  the  investiga- 
tion of  the  sciences,  and  also  continued  the 
study  of  the  classics. 

Ulric  remained  here  for  two  years,  laying  in 
rich  stores  of  learning ;  when  he  was  called , 
home  by  his  father  about  the  year  1502.  The 
desire  to  prosecute  his  studies,  and  also  to  apply 
the  results  of  his  industry,  led  him  shortly  after- 
wards to  proceed  to  Basel  once  more.  There 
he  became  a  teacher  in  the  school  of  St.  Martin, 
and  taught  Latin  with  great  success.  Soon  after 
this  he  placed  himself  under  the  instruction  of 
the  learned  Thomas  Wittenbach.  His  fellow- 
student,  and  intimate  friend  here,  was  one  Leo 
Juda.  The  two  young  men  devoted  themselves 
to  the  study  of  the  higher  branches  of  learning 
with  unwearied  assiduity.  Their  eminent  teach- 
er was  not  only  well  versed  in  the  ancient  lan- 
guages, but  he  added  to  this  a  profound  ac- 
3 


34  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

quaintanee  with  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Out  of 
the  barren  deserts  of  school-wisdom,  destitute 
of  all  water,  it  was  this  excellent  man's  habit  to 
lead  his  pupils  to  the  living  sources  of  God's 
word,  and  teach  them  to  draw  water  from  thence 
for  themselves,  and  their  flocks.  "  The  time  is 
not  far  distant,"  said  Wittenbach,  "  when  the 
scholastic  theology  will  be  swept  away,  and  the 
old  doctrine  of  the  church  established  in  its 
room,  on  the  foundation  of  the  Bible.  Absolu- 
tion is  a  Eomish  cheat ;  the  death  of  Christ  is 
the  only  payment  for  our  sins/'  Such  a  seed- 
corn  as  this,  found  in  the  heart  of  Zwingli,  so 
receptive  of  the  true,  a  soil  in  which  its  roots 
struck  vigorously,  shot  up  strongly,  and  bore 
noble  fruit  at  an  after  day. 

After  hard  study,  the  recreation  of  the  two 
friends  was  vocal  and  instrumental  music. 
Leo  poured  forth  a  fine  treble,  while  Zwingli 
accompanied  him  on  any  one  of  the  instruments, 
of  which  he  was  the  acknowledged  master. 
Thus  were  the  graver  labors  of  study  relieved 
with  a  recreation  at  once  useful  and  delightful, 
which  afterwards  did  them  good  service  in  the 
pastorate. 

Soon  after  this  Zwingli  was  honored  with  the 
degree,  "  Master  of  Arts,"  which  he  accepted, 


GOING   TO   SCHOOL.  35 

more  out  of  deference  to  the  prejudices  of  men, 
who  weigh  the  learning  by  the  title,  than  from 
any  sense  of  its  intrinsic  worth.  He  at  no  time 
made  use  of  the  degree,  being  wont  to  say, 
"  One  is  our  Master,  even  Christ." 

But  while  he  cared  little  for  the  titles  that 
men  honor,  as  expressive  of  high  attainments, 
he  honored  learning  itself.  He  was  enthusiastic 
in  his  studies  of  the  classics ;  delighted  in  the 
poems  of  Hesiod,  Homer,  and  Pindar,  on  the 
latter  two  preparing  notes  in  the  way  of  a  com- 
mentary. He  studied  closely  Cicero  and  Demos- 
thenes, that  he  might  learn  of  oratory  and  poli- 
tics ;  and  he  also  loved  the  wonders  of  nature  as 
reported  by  Pliny,  Thucydides,  Sallust.  Livy, 
Caesar,  Suetonius,  Plutarch,  and  Tacitus,  were 
all  familiar  to  him.  He  has  been  blamed  for  his 
devotion  to  these  great  authors;  as  he  thought 
that  he  discerned  in  them  not  mere  human  vir- 
tues, but  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  God's 
dealings,  he  thought,  in  olden  times  were  not 
limited  to  the  Holy  Land,  but  extended  to  all 
the  earth.  u  Plato,  also,"  said  he,  "  drew  from 
a  source  divine  ;  and  if  the  Catos,  Camillus,  and 
Scipios,  had  not  been  deeply  religious,  could  they 
have  acted  so  nobly  as  we  know  they  did  ?" 
However,  when  the  Word  of  God  was  afterward 


36  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

opened  to  him  in  all  its  fullness,  these  early 
student  views  were  greatly  modified,  and  then 
he  could  truly  say  :  "  One  is  our  Master,  even 
Christ."  And  here  ends  the  story  of  Zwingli's 
student  life.  He  was  always  a  student;  he 
never  relaxed  his  efforts  for  an  extended  cul- 
ture. And  no  fact  is  more  surely  established 
than  that  Zwingli  was  not  only  one  of  the  best 
scholars  of  his  time  j  but  also  that  he  excelled  in 
love  of  justice  and  truth. 


CHAPTER"  IV. 

THE    YOUNG   PKIEST   OF   GLARUS. 

It  is  sometimes  difficult  for  us  to  realize  that, 
400  years  ago,  there  was  no  Protestant  church 
in  existence,  and  that  there  were  but  few  persons 
then  living,  who  thought  that  the  church  could 
be  reformed.  Since  the  days  of  Constantine 
the  Great,  who  was  Emperor  of  Rome  and  of 
all  the  east,  and  who  came  to  the  height  of  his 
power,  at  the  time  when  the  Council  of  Nice 
was  held,  A.  d.  325 ;  and  declared  that  Chris- 
tianity was  the  religion  of  the  State,  the  church 
of  Rome  had  held  almost  complete  sway  over 
the  various  nations  of  Western  Europe.  The 
north-Rhine  peoples  who  overran  the  Italian 
States  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries,  were  them- 
selves captured  by  the  religion  of  their  captives, 
and  embraced  the  Christian  faith,  acknowledging 
the  Pope  of  Rome  as  their  supreme  Pontiff,  and 
vieing  with  each  other  in  their  readiness  to 
carry  out  his  behests.     For  centuries  this  con- 

37 


38  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

dition  of  things  lasted,  until  now,  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  when  Luther  and  Zwingli  were  born,  no 
other  form  of  Christianity  was  ever  thought  of, 
beside  that  which  looked  to  the  Pope,  as  the 
Vicar  of  Christ  on  earth,  and  obediently  placed 
the  neck  under  his  heavy  yoke. 

The  church,  through  its  great  prosperity,  and 
almost  universal  sway,  had  become  very  corrupt. 
The  Pope,  it  was  thought,  had  power  to  pardon 
sins.  The  ministers  were  all  called  priests,  and 
it  was  their  chief  duty  to  exhort  the  people  to 
be  loyal  to  the  Pope,  and  the  Cardinals,  and 
other  dignitaries ;  and  to  come  regularly  to  the 
confessional,  and  acknowledge  to  the  priest  what 
sins  they  were  guilty  of,  when  he  would  pro- 
nounce their  full  pardon.  The  priests  were  not 
allowed  to  marry;  and  on  this  account  great 
abuses  had  crept  into  the  church ;  and  it  was 
well  known  that  there  was  great  impurity  pre- 
vailing among  the  monks  and  nuns,  who  lived 
in  the  convents  and  monasteries.  It  is  true 
that  pure-minded  persons  like  John  Huss,  in 
Bohemia,  and  Savonorola  in  Italy,  and  Wyclifle 
in  England,  and  others  had  arisen  from  time  to 
time,  and  testified  against  the  abuses  existing 
in  the  church ;  but  they  were  only  told  to  re- 
cant, and  when  they  refused  to  do  this,  they 


THE   YOUNG   PRIEST   OF   GLARUS.  39 

were  put  to  death.  And  so  the  reign  of  the 
Pope  had  become  a  reign  of  terror ;  and  though 
the  Popes  were  often  very  evil  men,  yet  they 
were  to  be  obeyed,  even  at  the  perils  of  suffer- 
ing a  martyr's  death. 

Zwingli  became  a  priest  in  the  Romish  church. 
The  reader  will  not  be  surprised  at  this,  when 
he  remembers  that  this  was  the  only  course 
open,  at  that  time,  to  any  one  who  sought  the 
office  of  the  ministry.  When  there  was  but  one 
outward  organization,  to  which  all  the  ministers 
and  the  people  were  obedient,  the  candidate  for 
the  ministry  must  seek  permission  to  preach, 
through  its  authority.  Zwingli  was  ordained 
to  the  priesthood,  by  the  Bishop  of  Constance 
in  1506,  one  year  previous  to  the  ordination  of 
Luther  at  Erfurth,  in  Saxony. 

During  this  year  Zwingli  received  a  call  to 
be  the  pastor  of  the  church  at  Glarus.  He 
accepted  the  call,  and  at  once  made  preparations 
to  enter  upon  his  charge.  His  invitation  was 
the  more  acceptable  because  he  was  elected  by 
the  free  votes  of  the  community.  He  was 
encouraged  with  the  thought  that  he  had  well 
improved  the  season  of  preparation.  God  had 
preserved  him  against  gross  declensions,  despite 
the  general  wickedness  and  corruptions  of  the 


40  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

time.  "  I  acknowledge  myself/'  are  his  words, 
"  to  be  a  great  sinner  before  God,  but  I  have 
not  lived  immorally,  and  on  no  occasion  has  dis- 
cipline been  exercised  upon  me."  With  a  heart 
overflowing  with  gratitude  for  the  divine  direc- 
tion, he  exclaimed,  u  God  has  granted  me,  from 
the  age  of  boyhood,  to  devote  myself  to  the 
acquirement  of  knowledge,  human  and  divine." 
And  he  resolved  again  to  be  true  and  upright 
in  every  situation  in  life  in  which  the  hand  of 
the  Lord  might  yet  place  him. 

It  was  near  the  close  of  the  year  1506,  when 
the  young  priest,  who  had  now  reached  his 
twenty-second  year,  set  out  from  his  childhood 
home  at  Wildhaus  where  he  had  been  spending 
a  short  time  with  his  parents,  for  his  new  charge 
at  Glarus.  He  had  gone  over  once  more  the 
haunts  of  his  childhood  plays.  He  had  looked 
up  to  the  heights  of  Sentis  and  recalled  the 
solemn  thoughts  of  his  early  years,  when  he 
used  to  think  that  the  very  mountains  reflected 
the  presence  and  power  of  Jehovah.  And  on 
the  preceding  Sabbath  he  had  said  his  first 
"  Mass  "  in  the  little  church  at  Wildhaus,  in  the 
presence  of  his  father's  family,  <  thus  formally 
announcing  to  his  old  friends  his  determination  to 
give  himself  to  the  work  of  the  ministry  for  life. 


THE   YOUNG   PRIEST   OF   GLARUS.  41 

The  solemn  service  concluded,  the  young 
Parson  bade  farewell  to  his  father's  household, 
and  set  out  again  from  Wildhaus,  and  crossed 
the  Ammon  to  Wesen,  as  he  had  done  thirteen 
years  before.  How  different  life  appeared  to 
him  now  that  he  had  mingled  with  the  world, 
and  penetrated  the  mystery  that  ever  enshrouds 
the  cloister  and  the  academy  to  the  aspiring 
youth !  Instead  of  being  the  untutored  moun- 
tain-boy who  visited  his  uncle  Bartholomew,  on 
the  former  occasion,  he  now  comes  to  him  as 
one  who  has  passed  honorably  through  the 
ordeal  of  hard  study,  and  is  admitted  to  equal 
honors  with  himself. 

Wesen  was  the  market  town  of  the  people  who 
dwelt  at  Glarus.  It  was  only  seven  and  a  half 
miles  distant,  in  a  southerly  direction,  and  thus 
only  some  twenty  miles  from  Wildhaus.  Hav- 
ing preached  at  Eapperschwyl,  a  town  situated 
on  the  lake  of  Zurich,  he  went  on  towards  Glarus. 
From  Wesen  he  pursued  his  way  along  the 
banks  of  the  Linth,  by  a  path  which  here  winds 
between  high  and  rocky  mountains,  to  his  place 
of  destination,  which  was  the  chief  town  of  the 
canton. 

Before  Zwingli  could  enter  on  his  sacred 
office,  he  was  destined  to  have  a  painful  ex- 


42  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

perience  of  the  system  of  corruption  under  which 
his  country  groaned.  One  Henry  Goeldli,  the 
descendant  of  an  aristocratic  house,  who  was  at 
that  time  "  Master  of  the  Horse  "  to  the  Pope, 
and  a  boon  companion  of  his  holiness,  appeared 
with  a  papal  letter  of  investiture  for  the  place, 
although  he  was  already  in  the  possession  of 
several  livings.  The  community  of  Glarus 
maintained  their  right  of  election  with  success ; 
yet  Zwingli  was  obliged  to  indemnify  the  papal 
intruder  with  a  sum  of  money,  for  renouncing 
claims  that  were  totally  groundless. 

Zwingli  now  devoted  himself  to  his  chosen 
pursuit.  His  charge  was  situated  in  a  beautiful, 
though  narrow,  valley.  All  around  were  the 
lofty  summits  of  the  Alps.  The  village  lay  at 
the  north-east  base  of  the  precipitous  and  impo- 
sing "  Vorder-Glarnisch  "  over  seven  thousand 
six  hundred  feet  in  height ;  and  at  the  south- 
east of  the  "  Wiggis/'  the  barren  grey  summits 
of  which  formed  a  striking  contrast  to  the  fresh 
green  of  the  valley.  The  "Haustock,"  ten 
thousand  feet  in  height,  formed  the  back-ground 
to  the  south,  and  at  the  west  was  the  "  Schild," 
over  seven  thousand  five  hundred  feet  in  height. 
Thus  as  the  mountains  were  round  about  Jeru- 
salem,  so  were  there    mountains,  and  much 


THE   YOUNG   PRIEST   OF   GLARUS.  43 

higher  ones,  around  Glarus.  The  people  at 
Glarus  were  hardy  mountaineers.  Some  of 
them  dwelt  on  the  mountain  side,  and  mined 
the  slate  and  prepared  it  for  market.  Others 
dwelt  in  the  narrow  valley  and  prepared  the 
celebrated  Swiss  cheese  so  highly  prized  in 
many  places  to  this  day.  Among  these  people 
Zwingli  was  now  to  labor.  He  was  profoundly 
sensible  that  the  servant  of  God,  in  the  care  of 
souls,  must  apply  himself  unremittingly  to 
serious  study,  if  he  would  guard  his  soul  against 
the  inroads  of  a  low  worldliness,  and  if  he  would 
proclaim  the  truth  to  his  hearers,  with  living 
conviction. 

"What  idea  Zwingli  entertained  of  the  pastoral 
office,  appears  from  the  course  he  marked  out 
for  himself,  and  steadily  pursued.  "  He  becomes 
a  priest,"  writes  his  friend  Myconius/'  and  con- 
trary to  the  usual  way  of  priests,  he  yields  him- 
self to  his  studies,  especially  to  that  of  theology- 
Now  he  first  rightly  apprehends  how  much  he, 
who  is  intrusted  with  the  instruction  of  the 
people  in  divine  truth,  ought  himself,  before  all 
things,  to  be  furnished  with  theological  know- 
ledge, and  then  to  possess  eloquence  also,  that  he 
may  be  enabled  to  exhibit  everything  both  truly 
and  profitably,  agreeably  to  the  capacities  of  his 


44  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

hearers.  To  these  studies  he  applied  himself 
with  a  diligence  of  which  there  had  been  no  pre- 
vious example  in  many  years." 

The  diligence  of  Zwingli  must  have  been  re- 
markable, for  beside  the  care  of  the  church  in 
the  village,  he  had  three  other  congregations, 
comprising  nearly  a  third  part  of  the  canton. 
Yet  with  all  his  other  duties  he  was  unremitting 
in  his  devotion  to  his  studies.  The  Eoman 
classics  he  continued  to  read  with  diligence, 
chiefly  that  they  might  be  useful  to  him  in  his 
acquisition  of  truth,  and  in  the  cultivation  of  his 
oratorical  powers.  "As  for  truth  itself,  he  went 
for  it,"  says  Myconius,  "  and  drew  it,  with 
untiring  industry,  out  of  the  perennial  stream 
of  God's  word.  Although  he  knew  Holy  Scrip- 
ture, as  yet  only  in  the  Latin  version,  he  passed 
among  his  fellow  priests  for  one  who  had  a  pro- 
found knowledge  of  the  Bible.  He  well  knew, 
however,  and  deeply  felt,  how  small  was  the 
title  he  had  to  such  a  distinction.  He  was 
ambitious  to  excel  in  public  speaking,  and  to 
this  end  he  persevered  in  his  study  of  the  Latin. 
The  great  orators  of  antiquity,  those  masters  of 
eloquence,  whom  he  regarded  as  unrivalled, 
were  ever  present  to  him,  and  the  desire  burned 
within  him  to  work,  with  the  power  of  oratory, 


THE   YOUNG   PRIEST   OF   GLARUS.  45 

in  Switzerland,  and  in  the  cause  of  divine  truth, 
yet  greater  wonders  than  these  had  ever  wrought 
by  their  eloquence  in  Italy. 

He  now  labored  to  establish  a  Latin  school  in 
Glarus,  and  to  befriend  many  poor  students  who 
began,  or  continued  their  education  there.  He 
soon  gathered  around  him  a  noble  band  of  young 
men,  whom  he  led  on  to  the  pursuit  of  an  educa- 
tion, and  to  a  high  standing  in  the  community, 
who  might  otherwise  have  missed  their  oppor- 
tunity for  improvement  altogether.  Among  his 
scholars  was  his  younger  brother  James,  whose 
education  he  superintended  with  brotherly  affec- 
tion. As  soon  as  the  students  were  prepared 
for  the  high  school  he  sent  them  away  either  to 
the  high  school  at  Vienna,  where  the  friend  of 
his  youth  Vadian  had  risen  to  the  rank  of  pro- 
fessor and  rector  j  or  to  Basel  where  Glarean, 
also  his  friend,  taught  the  high  school,  the  ex- 
cellent man  boarding  the  students  himself,  that 
he  might  the  better  watch  over  their  education 
and  morals. 

But  wherever  his  students  went,  they  bore, 
engraved  on  their  hearts,  the  memory  of  their 
first  master,  and  maintained  with  him  a  corres- 
pondence of  which  the  following  is  a  specimen.. 
Peter  Tschudi  wrote   him  from  Paris :    "  Thou, 


46  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

art  to  us  like  a  guardian  angel ;"  and  his  brother 
wrote  from  another  place :  "  Help,  help  me,  that 
I  may  be  recalled  to  thee,  for  nowhere  do  I  like 
so  well  to  dwell  as  near  thyself.''  Their  cousin, 
Valentine  Tschudi,  and  Zwingli's  successor  at 
Glarus,  wrote  :  "  Can  I  ever  cease  to  be  grateful 
to  thee  for  thy  great  benefits  ?"  "  On  every 
occasion  that  I  return  to  my  home,  and  lately 
in  an  especial  manner,  when  I  was  four  days 
suffering  under  fever,  and  again,  when  I  left  my 
books  behind  me  in  Basel,  and  when  in  my 
timidity  I  feared  to  be  burdensome  to  thee,  thou 
gavest  me  thy  books,  thy  help,  thy  services. 
Ah  !  the  whole  benevolence  of  thy  soul  over- 
flowed to  me,  and  it  was  not  in  any  general  way 
that  the  rich  treasures  of  thy  learning  were 
placed  at  my  disposal,  but  with  a  special  regard 
to  my  peculiar  circumstances  and  necessities." 
Testimonies  like  these  bear  witness  to  the  great 
kindness  of  heart  which  characterized  the  young 
pastor  at  Glarus.  While  evidences  are  also  at 
hand  to  prove  his  undoubted  abilities.  The 
learned  Erasmus  wrote  to  him  from  Basel :  "All 
hail !  say  I,  to  the  Swiss  people,  whom  I  have 
always  admired,  whose  intellectual  and  moral 
qualities  yourself,  and  men  such  as  yourself,  are 
training." 


THE   YOUNG   PRIEST  OF   GLARUS.  47 

Doubtless  this  opinion  of  Erasmus  was  formed 
during  the  visit  which  Zwingli  made  to  Basel 
in  1514.  All  the  men  of  learning  assembled 
round  the  scholar  from  Rotterdam,  who  seems 
at  once  to  have  selected  Zwingli  as  the  man  who 
promised  to  be  the  glory  of  Switzerland.  This 
visit  had  a  great  influence  upon  the  youthful 
pastor  of  Glarus  ;  for  here  he  met  Myconius,  and 
John  Hausschein,  afterwards  called  Oecolampa- 
dius,  w}io  was  pastor  of  Basel,  and  a  man  of 
great  learning  also,  and  in  sympathy  with  the 
reformatory  views,  held  by  the  few  advanced 
minds  in  the  little  coterie.  It  was  at  this  time 
that  Erasmus  said  :  "  We  must  seek  but  one 
thing  in  Holy  Scriptures,  namely,  Jesus  Christ." 
Zwingli  returned  to  his  mountain  home,  greatly 
strengthened  by  this  conference,  and  filled  with 
new  views  of  the  important  duties  of  his  pas^ 
torate. 

With  reference  to  the  feelings  with  which  he 
discharged  these  duties,  he  afterward  wrote : 
"  Young  as  I  was,  the  office  of  the  priesthood 
filled  me  with  greater  fear  than  joy,  for  this  was 
ever  present  to  me,  that  the  blood  of  the  sheep 
who  perished  through  any  neglect  or  guilt  of 
mine,  would  be  required  at  my  hands." 


CHAPTEE  V. 

WARS  AND  RUMORS  OF  WARS. 

¥e  are  now  to  be  introduced  to  other  scenes 
in  the  life  of  Zwingli,  quite  different  from  those 
we  have  hitherto  considered.  It  might  be  in- 
ferred that  the  life  of  the  young  priest  at  Glarus 
would  be  uneventful,  being  confined  chiefly  to 
those  cares  that  commonly  mark  the  experience 
of  the  country  curate.  Such  however  was  not 
to  be  the  case  with  Zwingli.  Though  he  was  a 
student  from  choice  and  inclination,  yet  the 
times  in  which  he  lived,  and  the  interests  of  his 
country,  called  him  forth  from  his  limited  sphere 
of  operations  in  Glarus  to  participate  in  the 
stirring  events  of  war. 

The  remote  cause  of  this  remarkable  change 
in  the  life  of  the  young  pastor,  was  the  influence 
of  a  noted  dignitary  of  the  Eomish  church 
named  Cardinal  Schinner.  He  was  a  man  of 
extraordinary  powers,  who  had  raised  himself 
48 


WARS  AND   RUMORS   OF   WARS.  49 

from  the  condition  of  herd-boy,  to  be  Bishop 
Prince  of  the  land,  and  a  Cardinal  of  the  Church. 
It  is  related  that  when  he  was  a  poor  boy,  at- 
tending the  school  at  Sion,  in  the  Valais,  he  was 
one  day  singing  in  the  streets,  for  his  bread, 
when  an  old  man  called  him  to  him,  and  said  : 
"  Thou  shalt  become  a  bishop  and  a  prince." 
The  boy  was  filled  with  a  burning  ambition  from 
that  hour,  and  determined  to  fulfill  the  prophecy, 
if  possible.  He  attended  school  at  Zurich  and 
Como,  and  thus  became  proficient  both  in 
German  and  Italian;  and  after  ordination  to 
the  priesthood,  rose  rapidly  in  the  estimation  of 
churchmen,  and  soon  attained  distinction. 

Humor  had  it  that  he  was  sent  to  Rome  to 
obtain  a  bishopric  for  one  who  had  been  selected 
for  that  office ;  but  with  a  tricky  heart,  he  asked 
the  appointment  for  himself,  and  the  Pope 
granted  it,  so  that  the  messenger  went  home  as 
the  bishop  of  Sion.  A  man  who  could  perform 
an  act  like  this  was  sure  to  be  engaged  in  unholy 
schemes  thereafter;  and  when  Louis  XII,  of 
France,  was  at  war  with  the  Popes  Julius  II, 
and  Leo  X,  Schinner  knew  that  each  party 
would  be  glad  to  retain  the  Swiss  in  his  service. 
Accordingly  he  offered  his  services  to  Louis, 
and  named  his  price.  The  king  remarked :  "  It 
4 


50  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

is  too  much  for  any  one  man."  °  I  will  show 
him,"  replied  the  bishop  of  Sion,  in  a  passion, 
"  that  I  am  a  man  worth  purchasing  at  any 
cost."  From  that  time  he  engaged  to  act  with 
the  Pope  Julius  II,  who  received  his  advances 
with  joy. 

By  the  year  1510,  Schinner  had  succeeded, 
by  his  arts,  in  attaching  the  Swiss  to  the  in- 
terests of  the  papacy ;  so  that  these  hardy  moun- 
taineers, for  absolution,  some  deceitful  promises, 
and  but  a  scanty  pay,  lent  themselves  as  tools 
to  forward  the  ambitious  plans  of  the  Popes. 
There  was  scarcely  a  man  of  weight  in  the 
country,  whom  this  man  had  not  gained  over  to 
the  papacy,  by  the  glittering  bait  of  some  post 
of  honor,  or  other  favor. 

The  noble  form  of  the  talented  pastor  of  Gla- 
rus,  standing  high  in  the  esteem  of  his  people, 
caught  the  eye  of  the  artful  bishop.  Zwingli 
on  account  of  his  poverty,  had  not  been  able  to 
purchase  books  sufficient  to  meet  the  demands 
of  his  thirst  for  knowledge ;  here  was  a  capital 
opportunity  to  take  him  in  the  papal  toils. 
Schinner  hastened  to  inform  him  that  the  Pope 
had  set  apart  an  annual  sum  of  fifty  florins,  in 
order  that  he  might  freely  pursue  his  studies. 
In  return,  Zwingli's  talents  and  energies  were 


WARS   AND   RUMORS   OF   WARS.  51 

to  be  devoted  to  the  Pope.  Had  he  acceded  to 
this  condition,  the  mountain  boy  of  Wildhaus 
might  well  have  climbed  the  ladder  of  papal 
promotion  as  high  as  the  herd-boy  of  Wallis, 
the  bishop  prince  and  Cardinal,  had  done. 

Zwingli  has  this  to  say  regarding  his  accept- 
ance of  this  offer :  "I  confess  here,  before  God 
and  all  the  world,  my  sin "  (in  drawing  the 
above  annual  sum,  which  he  did  accept,  and  use 
conditionally) :  "  for  before  the  year  1516,  I 
hung  mightily  on  the  Roman  power,  and  thought 
it  highly  becoming  in  me  to  take  the  money, 
although  I  told  the  Romish  ambassadors  in  clear 
and  express  terms,  when  they  exhorted  me  to 
preach  nothing  against  the  Pope,  they  were  not 
to  fancy  that  I,  for  their  money,  should  withhold 
one  iota  of  the  truth,  so  they  might  take  back, 
or  give  it,  as  they  pleased."  The  Popes  and  the 
Cardinal  had  more  at  heart  the  success  of  their 
policy  than  the  victory  of  the  truth,  and  so  they 
left  Zwingli  alone  for  the  present,  with  the  little 
stipend  which  he  expended  in  the  purchase  of 
books  at  Basel. 

.  In  the  meantime  Cardinal  Schinner  and  the 
Pope  threw  off  all  disguise ,  and  began  to  re- 
cruit soldiers  in  Switzerland  for  the  campaign 
against  the  King  of  France,  who  was  making 


52  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

inroads  on  the  papal  territory  in  Italy.  Eight 
thousand  Swiss  were  persuaded  by  the  Cardinal 
to  enlist  for  the  campaign.  They  crossed  the 
Alps,  and  were  marshalled  with  the  papal 
army;  but  receiving  scant  pay,  and  being 
worsted  by  the  French,  they  retreated  in- 
gloriously  to  their  own  mountain  home.  They 
brought  with  them  evil  and  dissipated  habits, 
which  resulted  in  licentiousness,  violence  and 
general  disorder.  The  citizens  arose  against 
their  magistrates,  the  children  against  their 
parents,  the  lands  were  allowed  to  go  uncultiva- 
ted, and  the  shepherds  neglected  their  herds 
and  flocks.  Luxury  and  beggary  increased,  the 
most  sacred  ties  were  severed,  and  the  confed- 
eracy seemed  in  danger  of  dissolution. 

Zwingli  could  not  help  noticing  the  peril.  In 
order  to  counteract  the  evil  influences  resulting 
from  mercenary  warfare  he  wrote  and  published 
a  poem  entitled  "The  Labyrinth;"  and  another 
entitled :  "A  Poetic  Fable  concerning  an  Ox 
and  several  Beasts."  He  described  the  mazes 
of  a  mysterious  garden,  where  Minos  had  con- 
cealed the  Minotaur,  a  monster  half  man  and 
half  bull,  whom  he  feeds  with  the  blood  of  the 
Athenian  youth.  He  interpreted  the  Minotaur 
as  the  sin,  the  irreligion,  and  the  foreign  service 
of  the  Swiss  which  devour  their  children. 


WARS  AND   RUMORS   OF   WARS.  53 

A  brave  man,  Theseus,  undertakes  to  deliver 
his  country.  He  meets,  first,  a  lion  with  one 
eye ;  it  is  Spain  and  Arragon.  Next  he  meets 
a  crowned  eagle,  with  open  throat ;  it  is  the 
Empire ;  then  he  encounters  a  cock  with  crest 
erect;  it  is  France.  But  the  hero  overcomes 
them  all;  and  at  last  delivers  his  country. 
Had  the  warning  been  heeded,  it  would  have 
been  well  for  the  Swiss,  but  so  great  was  the 
infatuation  that  the  protest  was  unheeded,  and 
great  loss  was  the  consequence. 

Another  campaign  was  undertaken  by  Schin- 
ner  in  the  early  part  of  1513,  to  cross  the  Alps 
and  drive  the  French  out  of  Lombardy.  As  the 
banner  of  Glarus  was  unfurled  in  this  expedition, 
Zwingli  was  appointed,  by  an  order  of  the  magis- 
tracy, and  in  conformity  with  an  old  Swiss 
custom,  to  follow  the  army  as  a  field  preacher. 
At  one  sweep  Lombardy  was  cleared  of  the  in- 
vaders, and  the  Duke  Maximilian  Sforza  rein- 
stated in  his  hereditary  dominions,  the  duchy 
of  Milan.  After  the  fortunate  issue  of  this  cam- 
paign, a  papal  embassy,  presented  by  the  hands 
of  Zwingli,  the  proud  victors  in  the  war,  with  a 
richly  gilt  sword  and  a  ducal  hat,  emblazoned 
with  pearls  and  gold,  over  which  the  Holy 
Spirit  hovered,  in  the  form  of  a  dove.     At  the 


54  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

same  time,  the  honorary  title  was  bestowed 
upon  them  of  "  Deliverers  of  the  Church  I* 
The  present  was  very  welcome  to  the  victorious 
Confederates,  as  well  as  the  words  which  accom- 
panied it :  "  They  may  ask  what  they  will,  the 
holiest  shall  not  be  denied  them."  The  greater 
part  begged  that  they  might  be  permitted  to 
carry  the  image  of  the  crucified  Eedeemer  on 
their  banners :  the  men  of  Glarus  desired  to 
carry  that  of  the  risen  Saviour. 

A  second  time,  in  1515,  the  Swiss  army  once 
more  crossed  the  Alps  to  fight  against  the 
French  army,  and  Zwingli  as  before,  accom- 
panied them  as  field  preacher.  On  this  occa- 
sion it  was  the  policy  of  the  French  monarch  to 
cast  the  seeds  of  disunion  in  the  Swiss  ranks, 
by  bribing  some  of  the  leaders.  He  succeeded 
in  dividing  the  Swiss  host,  and  in  inducing  a 
part  of  it,  by  a  treaty  the  terms  of  which  were 
in  the  highest  degree  disgraceful  to  the  Swiss, 
to  return  home.  Zwingli,  who  penetrated  the 
false  game  that  was  playing,  and  perceived  the 
mischief  that  brooded  over  his  country,  raised 
his  voice  loudly  against  the  treaty,  in  a  sermon 
which  he  preached  to  the  army,  in  the  square 
at  Monza,  on  the  7  th  of  September.  He  ex- 
horted the   assembled  warriors  to  be  true  to 


WARS    AND    RUMORS   OF    WARS.  55 

each  other — to  union  and  watchfulness  in  the 
presence  of  their  dangerous  foe.  "  Had  they 
followed  him,"  said  his  friend  Steiner,  who 
shared  the  dangers  of  the  campaign  with  him, 
"much  mischief  would  have  been  prevented." 
But  the  warning  of  their  chaplain  was  unheeded; 
the  treaty  was  signed,  according  to  the  terms  of 
which,  a  part  of  the  Swiss  withdrew. 

A  short  time  afterward  the  remnant  of  the 
army  under  the  fiery  exhortations  of  Cardinal 
Schinner,  imprudently  joined  in  a  skirmish  with 
the  French.  In  this  skirmish  the  battle  of 
Marignano  took  its  origin,  in  which  the  Swiss, 
on  the  first  day,  maintained  the  field  with  a 
tremendous  loss ;  but  on  the  second  day,  being 
attacked  by  the  French  with  fresh  forces,  they 
were  beaten  after  a  desperate  stand,  and  forced 
to  retreat  on  Milan.  Zwingli  himself,  accord- 
ing to  the  reports  of  eye  witnesses,  displayed 
striking  proofs  of  personal  courage,  both  by 
word  and  deed.  His  intrepid  but  serious  be- 
havior, as  well  as  his  sermons,  breathing  at  once 
zeal  in  behalf  of  the  truth,  and  love  for  his 
native  country,  won  for  him  the  hearts  of  all 
the  better  confederates. 

It  has  been  regretted  by  many  that  Zwingli 
was  led  to  accompany  the  Swiss  army  into  Italy. 


56  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

It  is  indeed  to  be  regretted  that  war  has  not 
yet  ceased  from  the  earth.  But  the  causes  of 
the  war  in  Zwingli's  time  lay  far  beyond  his 
reach  and  influence,  and  the  only  question  left 
for  him  to  decide,  was  whether  he  would  con- 
form to  the  ancient  custom  of  his  country,  and 
go  with  the  soldiers  from  his  own  charge  as 
their  chaplain,  or  whether  he  would  remain  at 
home  and  continue  his  denunciations  against  the 
evils  of  a  war  engaged  in  with  a  mercenary 
spirit. 

It  was  represented  to  him  also  that  this  war 
was  undertaken  to  reclaim  the  ancient  posses- 
sions of  the  church  in  which  he  was  a  minister. 
Lombardy  had  been  the  home  of  the  church  for 
centuries,  and  the  foe  who  threatened  her  was  a 
civil  power,  which  simply  sought  its  own  advan- 
tage without  reference  to  the  question  of  prin- 
ciple. France  was  no  friend  to  the  Swiss ;  and 
as  long  as  the  church  of  Eome  was  the  accepted 
church  of  Switzerland,  so  long  would  there  be  a 
foundation  for  her  to  call  upon  the  Swiss  for 
aid. 

To  blame  Zwingli  for  accepting  the  chaplaincy, 
at  this  time,  and  also  subsequently,  when  he 
went  with  the  troops  from  Zurich  to  the  field  of 
Cappel,  would  be  like  condemning  the  ministers 


WARS  AND   RUMORS  OF   WARS.  57 


* 


who  acted  as  chaplains  in  our  own  late  civil  war. 
War  can  only  be  justified  when  it  is  a  necessity. 
And  when  engaged  in  it  should  be  from  good 
motives,  either  in  self-defence,  or  to  protect  the 
weak  and  helpless.  Zwingli  preached  a  great 
deal  on  the  subject,  both  before  and  after  these 
campaigns,  and  in  all  his  utterances  he  clearly 
distinguishes  between  the  mercenary  spirit  of  the 
soldier  who  is  a  hireling  merely,  and  that  of  the 
patriot  who  fights  in  defence  of  his  native  land. 
This  is  well  set  forth  in  the  poem  alluded  to 
above,  in  which  he  represents  the  confederacy, 
under  the  symbol  of  an  ox,  which  was  led  astray 
by  artful  cats,  though  warned  by  faithful  dogs, 
and  by  that  means  lost  his  liberty. 

"  Where  bribery  can  show  its  face, 
There  Freedom  has  no  dwelling-place. 
Freedom  must  stand  by  Bravery, 
Sheltered  and  guarded  evermore. 
Amid  the  bloody  ranks  of  war, 
Amid  the  fearful  dance  of  death, 
Let  gleaming  swords  drawn  from  the  6heath, 
And  sharp-edged  spears  and  axes  be, 
Thy  guardians  golden  Liberty. 
But,  where  a  brutish  heart  is  met, 
And  by  a  tempting  bribe  beset, 
There  noble  Freedom,  glorious  boon  ! 
And  name  and  blood  of  friends  too  soon, 
Are  cheaply  prized  ;  and  rudely  torn 
The  oaths  in  holy  covenant  sworn/' 


CHAPTER  VI. 

FOES   NEARER   HOME. 

One  advantage,  at  least,  came  to  Zwingli 
from  his  visit  to  Italy.  While  at  Milan  he 
found  time,  after  having  attended  to  the  wounded 
soldiers,  to  visit  the  library,  and  while  there  he 
came  upon  an  old  "  Mass-book/'  used  in  the 
time  of  St.  Ambrose.  It  differed  materially 
from  the  one  that  was  then  put  into  the  hands 
of  all  the  priests  by  the  church,  to  be  invariably 
used  by  them  in  the  conduct  of  public  worship. 
This  led  him  to  the  following  train  of  reasoning : 
"  Either  Bishop  Ambrose,  from  whom  the  mass- 
book  emanated,  has  made  changes  in  the  exist- 
ing one,  without  his  being  visited  with  censure, 
or  the  Eomish  ritual  has  taken  its  present  shape 
since  his  time.  In  either  case,  it  is  evident  that 
the  liturgy  of  the  mass  is  the  work  of  man,  and 
subject  to  change.  The  Word  of  God  alone  is 
eternal  and  unchangeable." 

One  day  Zwingli  happened  to  be  in  the  par- 
58 


FOES   NEARER   HOME.  59 

sonage  of  his  friend  parson  Adam  at  Mollis,  in 
company  also  with  the  pastor  of  Wesen,  and  his 
former  teacher  at  Basel,  George  Binzli.  Zwingli 
found  another  liturgy,  two  hundred  years  old, 
in  which  a  sentence  occurred  which  showed  that 
at  that  time,  both  the  bread  and  the  cup  had 
been  given  to  the  laity,  though  that  custom  was 
now  discontinued.  He  called  attention  to  this 
fact,  and  commented  upon  it.  The  inquiring, 
and  investigating  spirit  of  Zwingli  led  him  to 
examine  into  the  authority  of  the  church  for 
himself;  he  had  always  been  an  independent 
thinker. 

In  the  year  1513  he  began  the  study  of  the 
Greek  language,  in  order  that  he  might  be  able 
to  read  the  New  Testament  in  the  original.  He 
acquired  the  language  without  any  assistance, 
and  in  a  short  time.  He  extended  his  reading, 
in  the  Greek,  to  the  writings  of  the  Fathers, 
that  he  might  learn  their  comments  on  the 
Bible.  He  said  that  he  read  the  Fathers,  u  as 
one  asks  a  friend  what  he  means."  And  Myco- 
nius  adds  :  "  He  perceived  however  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  alone  can  give  the  true  meaning  of 
the  Word  which  he  himself  has  indited;  and 
he  looked  up  to  heaven,  for  direction,  wrestled 
with  God  in  prayer,  that  he  would  bestow  upon 


60  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

him  the  inestimable  blessing  of  bis  Holy  Spirit, 
and  it  was  granted  to  him,  ever  more  and  more, 
to  pierce  into  the  sense  of  the  "Word." 

The  Word  of  God  now  became  his  daily  com- 
panion. In  his  studies  he  compared  one  passage 
with  another,  and  interpreted  the  darker  by  the 
plainer,  so  that  it  was  apparent  to  every  one 
that  heard  him  commenting  on  a  difficult  pas- 
sage, that  not  man,  but  the  Spirit  himself  was 
his  teacher.  We  cannot  help  admiring  the  zeal 
of  Zwingli  in  the  study  of  the  Scriptures, 
especially  when  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study 
of  the  Greek,  without  assistance,  and  with  only 
the  poor  lexicons  and  grammars  of  that  day,  in 
order  that  he  might  understand  the  teachings 
of  the  New  Testament.  Such  was  his  devotion, 
that  he  wrote  in  1513  :  "  Nothing  can  again 
withdraw  me  from  the  study  of  the  Greek." 

One  circumstance  particularly,  shows  how 
zealous  he  was  in  his  studies.  He  copied,  with 
his  own  hand,  in  Greek  characters,  all  the 
Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  that  he  might  carry  them 
about  with  him,  and  be  able  to  consult  them  at 
all  times.  The  manuscript  was  presented  to  the 
library  of  Zurich  in  1563,  by  Anna  Zwingli,  the 
last  of  the  Reformer's  descendants.  It  consisted 
of  forty- three  sheets,  in  pocket  form,  with  large 


FOES   NEARER  HOME.  61 

margins  which  are  filled  with  notes  in  a  very- 
small  hand,  and  was  designed  evidently  for  a 
pocket  edition. 

Zwingli's  spiritual  life  was  greatly  quickened 
at  this  time  also.  He  read  a  poem  of  Erasmus 
his  learned  friend,  whom,  he  had  met  at  Basel, 
in  which  the  Saviour  is  represented  as  complain- 
ing that  men  do  not  seek  all  good  from  him, 
who  is  the  source  of  all  good,  the  Comforter,  the 
Guardian  of  the  soul.  He  then  thought,  he 
says  :  "  Why  do  we  seek  help  of  the  creature  ?" 
His  sermons  now  became  more  impassioned  and 
earnest.  Myconius  says  that  he :  "  Now  began, 
after  the  example  of  Christ,  to  denounce,  from 
the  pulpit,  certain  base  vices,  which  were  ex- 
tremely prevalent,  especially  the  taking  of  gifts 
from  princes,  and  baleful  mercenary  wars ;  for 
he  saw  clearly  that  the  doctrine  of  divine  truth 
would  never  find  an  entrance  until  these  sources 
of  iniquity  were  closed.  He  proclaimed  evan- 
gelical truth,  without  making  any  allusion  to 
Eomish  errors,  or  with  a  very  slight  reference 
to  them.  He  wished  truth  first  to  make  its 
way  to  the  hearts  of  his  hearers,  for,  thought 
he,  if  the  true  be  once  comprehended,  the  false 
will  be  easily  detected  as  such." 

But  these  utterances,  as  might  be  supposed, 


62  THE    MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

stirred  up  a  tide  of  opposition  against  the  young 
pastor.  The  custom  of  enlisting  as  soldiers  for 
pay  still  went  on,  and  the  plain  rebukes,  though 
greatly  deserved,  were  very  unwelcome.  Ene- 
mies began  to  circulate  reports  adverse  to  his 
character.  They  said  that  he  had  received 
pecuniary  rewards  himself;  no  doubt  in  refer- 
ence to  the  little  stipend,  formerly  accepted  by 
him,  for  the  purchase  of  books.  They  tried  to 
fasten  upon  him  the  charge  of  frivolity;  no 
doubt  citing  his  fondness  for  music,  which  taste 
never  deserted  him.  When  weary  with  the 
work  of  the  pastorate,  or  of  his  profound  studies, 
he  would  again  resort  to  the  recreation  of  his 
student  life.  Taking  up  the  lute,  harp,  violin, 
flute,  dulcimer,  or  hunting-horn,  he  would  pour 
forth  gladsome  sounds,  as  in  days  of  old  at 
Wildhaus,  or  when  at  school  at  Basel,  when  he 
used  to  make  his  room,  or  the  apartment  of  some 
friend,  rins;  as;ain  with  the  airs  of  his  beloved 
country,  accompanying  them  with  his  own  songs. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  precise  form 
which  the  opposition  took,  the  animating  impulse 
was  an  unworthy  one,  and  yet  it  made  the 
burden  of  the  pastorate  heavy  to  be  borne.  At 
last  the  opposition  took  the  form  of  a  charge  of 
heresy.     Notwithstanding  his  wise  moderation 


FOES   NEARER   HOME.  63 

in  general,  he  bad  laid  himself,  in  some  measure, 
liable  by  agitating  the  cause  of  reform,  both  in 
matters  pertaining  to  the  church  and  state.  In 
this  he  had  only  done  that  which  was  his  bounden 
duty,  nevertheless  it  furnished  the  pretext 
desired  by  his  opponents. 

These  foes  nearer  home,  than  were  the  Car- 
dinals or  the  French,  will  at  last  see  the  bold 
and  learned  minister,  departing  to  a  new  field 
of  labor.  But  before  we  follow  him  to  his  sec- 
ond charge,  it  will  be  well  for  us  to  ask  whether 
Zwingli  was  an  independent  Reformer  at  this 
time,  or  was  a  mere  imitator  of  other  men;  (e.g. 
of  Luther,)  who  labored  in  other  parts  of  Ger- 
many and  Switzerland.  That  he  had  laid  the 
foundation  for  (his  work  while  in  Glarus  cannot 
be  doubted.  His  discovery  that  the  church  fa- 
thers did  not  agree  among  themselves  ;  that  the 
form  of  the  Mass  had  been  changed ;  and  that  the 
Scriptures  alone  are  the  sure  rule  of  faith  and 
practice,  were  the  entering  wedges  that  would 
lead  him  very  soon  to  break  away  from  the  tra- 
ditions and  the  abuses  existing  in  the  church. 

It  was  about  the  year  1516,  that  Zwingli 
arrived  at  the  views  here  presented,  which  he 
afterwards  reduced  to  writing  as  follows  :  "  We 
see,  thought  I,  the  whole  of  mankind  striving, 


64  THE    MOUNTAIN    BOY. 

their  lives  long,  after  the  attainment  of  future 
bliss,  not  perhaps  directed  to  this  pursuit  so 
much  from  any  natural  impulse  as  from  the  in- 
stinct of  self-preservation  implanted  in  us  by 
the  Author  of  our  being  at  our  creation ;  yet 
the  opinions  are  very  various  as  to  how  this 
great  end  is  to  be  obtained.  If  we  go  to  the 
philosophers,  we  find  them  disputing  on  this 
subject  in  a  manner  which  makes  us  turn  away 
from  them  with  a  feeling  of  disgust.  If  we  seek 
for  a  solution  of  the  problem  from  the  Chris- 
tians, we  find  here  even  a  greater  diversity  of 
opinion  than  prevails  among  the  heathen,  for 
some  are  striving  to  reach  the  goal  in  the  way 
of  human  tradition,  and  by  the  elements  of  this 
world  (Col.  2 :  8)  i.  e.,  by  their  own  and  human 
opinions,  while  others  are  relying  entirely  on 
God's  grace  and  promises  :  both  the  one  and 
the  other,  however,  are  equally  urgent  that 
those  who  come  to  them  for  consolation,  should 
adopt  their  sentiments. 

While  I  was  reflecting  on  this  diversity  of 
opinion  in  the  earthen  vessels,  and  praying  to 
God  that  He  would  show  me  an  outlet  to  the 
state  of  uncertainty  it  produces,  He  says, il  Fool, 
dost  thou  not  remember  the  Word  of  the  Lord 
abideth  forever  ?"     Hold  to  this.     And  again, 


FOES   NEARER   HOME.  65 

u  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but  My 
word  shall  not  pass  away."  What  is  human 
perishes  ;  what  is  divine,  is  unchangeable.  And, 
"  in  vain  they  honor  Me,  teaching  for  doctrines 
the  commandments  of  men/'  For  this  cause  I 
put  every  thing  aside,  and  came  to  the  point, 
that  I  would  rely  on  no  single  thing,  on  no 
single  word,  so  firmly  as  on  that  which  comes 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Lord. 

I  now  began  to  weigh  with  myself,  whether 
there  were  no  means  by  which  one  might  recog- 
nize what  was  human  and  what  divine.  Then 
the  passsage  occurred  to  me,  all  is  clear  in  the 
light,  in  that  light,  to  wit,  which  says :  u  I  am 
the  Light  of  the  World,  that  lightens  every 
man  that  cometh  into  the  world ;"  and  again, 
"  believe  every  spirit,  but  try  the  spirits, 
whether  they  be  of  God."  Seeking  for  the 
touchstone  of  truth,  I  find  none  other  but  that 
stone  of  stumbling  and  the  rock  of  offence  to  all 
who,  after  the  manner  of  the  Pharisees,  set  their 
own  commandments  in  the  place  of  God's.  I 
now  began  to  test  every  doctrine  by  this  test. 
Did  I  see  that  the  touchstone  gave  back  the 
same  color,  or  rather,  that  the  doctrine  could 
bear  the  brightness  of  the  stone,  I  accepted  it ; 
if  not,  I  cast  it  away.  And  if  any  one  brought 
5 


66  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

forward  any  other  doctrine  or  threats,  I  said : 
"  we  ought  to  obey  God  rather  than  men."  From 
this  time  his  watch -word  was  :  "  The  "Word  of 
God  the  only  reliable  rule  of  Faith  and  Life ; 
and  Christ  our  only  Salvation/' 

Surely  this  was  good  Protestant  doctrine ; 
and  in  attaining  it  Zwingli  did  not  consult  with 
flesh  and  blood,  but  with  the  Word  of  truth. 
Afterward  his  enemies  said  that  he  had  bor- 
rowed from  Luther.  And  to  this  he  felt  con- 
strained to  make  the  following  reply  :  "I began 
to  preach  the  Gospel  before  a  single  individual 
in  our  part  of  the  country  ever  heard  the  name 
of  Luther.  This  was  in  1516.  Who  called  me 
a  Lutheran  then  ?  When  Luther's  exposition  of 
the  Lord's  Prayer  appeared,  it  so  happened  that 
I  had  shortly  before  preached  from  Matthew 
on  the  same  Prayer.  Well,  some  good  folks, 
who  everywhere  found  my  thoughts  in  Luther's 
work,  would  hardly  let  themselves  be  made  to 
believe  that  I  had  not  written  this  book  myself; 
they  fancied  that,  being  afraid  to  put  my  name 
to  it,  I  had  set  that  of  Luther  instead. 

Who  then  called  me  a  follower  of  Luther  ? 
Then,  how  comes  it  that  the  Romish  Cardinals 
and  Legates,  who  were  at  that  very  time  at  Zu- 
rich, never  reproached  me  as  Lutheran,  until 


FOES   NEARER   HOME.  67 

they  had-  declared  Luther  a  heretic,  which,  how- 
ever, they  could  never  make  him  ?  When  they 
had  branded  him  a  heretic,  it  was  then  for  the 
first  time  they  exclaimed,  I  was  Lutheran ; 
although  Luther's  name  was  entirely  unknown  to 
me  during  these  two  years  that  I  kept  to  the 
Bible  alone.  But  it  is  part  of  their  cunning  policy 
to  load  me  and  others  with  this  name.  Do  they 
say :  "  you  must  be  Lutheran  for  you  preach  as 
Luther ;"  I  answer,  I  preach  too  as  Paul  writes, 
why  not  call  me  a  Pauline  ?  nay  ;  I  preach  the 
Word  of  Christ,  why  not  much  rather  call  me  a 
Christian  ?  In  my  opinion,  Luther  is  one  of  God's 
chosen  heralds  and  combatants,  who  searches  the 
Scriptures  with  greater  zeal  than  has  been  done 
by  any  man  on  earth  for  the  last  thousand  years. 
11  Therefore,  dear  Christians,  let  not  the  name 
of  Christ  be  changed  into  the  name  of  Luther,  for 
Luther  has  not  died  for  us,  but  he  teaches  us  to 
know  Him  from  whom  alone  our  salvation  comes. 
If  Luther  preaches  Christ,  he  does  it  as  I  do  ; 
although,  God  be  praised  for  it,  an  innumerable 
multitude,  much  more  than  by  me,  and  by 
others,  have  been  converted  to  God  through 
him,  for  God  metes  out  to  every  man  as  He  will. 
For  my  part,  I  shall  bear  no  other  name  but 
that  of  my  Captain,  Jesus  Christ,  whose  soldier 


68  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

I  am.  No  man  can  esteem  Luther  higher  than 
I  do.  Yet  I  testify  before  God  and  all  men,  that 
I  never,  at  any  time,  wrote  to  him,  or  he  to  me, 
nor  has  anything  been  done  to  open  up  a  corres- 
pondence, between  us.  I  have  purposely  abstain- 
ed from  all  correspondence  with  him,  not  that  I 
feared  any  man  on  this  account,  but  because  I 
would  have  it  appear  how  uniform  the  Spirit  of 
God  is,  in  so  far  that  we,  who  are  far  distant  from 
each  other,  and  have  held  no  communication,  are 
yet  of  the  same  mind,  and  this  without  the 
slightest  concert.  But  I  will  not  be  so  bold  as  to 
place  myself  by  the  side  of  Luther,  for  each  of  us 
works  according  to  the  ability  given  us  of  God." 
The  candor  and  modesty  of  this  language  is 
worthy  of  the  greatest  admiration.  Particularly 
is  this  noteworthy  when  it  is  remembered  that 
Zwingli  was  unexcelled  in  the  classics,  a  constant 
reader  of  Plato,  Aristotle,  Cicero  and  Seneca; 
Valerius  Maximus  he  committed  to  memory,  and 
Pindar  he  placed  next  to  the  sacred  poets.  From 
his  hand-made  copy  of  the  New  Testament  in 
Greek,  before  mentioned,  he  had  learned  the  Epis- 
tles of  St.  Paul,  so  as  to  quote  them  freely  from 
memory ;  and  yet  so  far  is  he  from  boasting, 
that  he  seems  quite  willing  to  have  his  brother, 
in  Saxony,  receive  the  greater  honor  and  praise. 


FOES   NEARER   HOME.  69 

Mosheim,  who  is  supposed  to  favor  Luther  in 
his  writings,  says,  in  his  History,  Vol.  III.,  p. 
39  :  "  The  extensive  learning  and  uncommon 
sagacity  of  Zwingli,  were  accompanied  with  the 
most  heroic  intrepidity  and  resolution.  It  must 
even  be  acknowledged,  that  this  eminent  man 
had  perceived  some  rays  of  the  truth  before 
Luther  came  to  an  open  rupture  with  the  church 
of  Rome."  On  this,  Dr.  Maclaine,  the  editor, 
in  English,  of  Dr.  Mosheim's  History,  remarks  : 
"  It  is  well  known  that  Zwingli,  from  his  early 
years,  had  been  shocked  at  several  of  the  supersti- 
tious practices  of  the  church  of  Eome ;  that  so 
early  as  the  year  1516,  he  began  to  explain  the 
Scriptures  to  the  people,  and  to  censure,  though 
with  great  prudence  and  moderation,  the  errors 
of  a  corrupt  church ;  and  that  he  had  very 
noble  and  extensive  ideas  of  a  general  reforma- 
tion, at  the  very  time  that  Luther  retained 
almost  the  whole  system  of  popery,  indulgences 
excepted.  Luther  proceeded  very  slowly  to  that 
exemption  from  the  prejudices  of  education, 
which  Zwingli  by  the  force  of  an  adventurous 
genius,  and  an  uncommon  degree  of  knowledge 
and  penetration,  easily  got  rid  of." 

But  Zwingli  himself  sounds  the  true  key-note 
to  this  whole  subject,  where  he  says  :  u  I  began 


70  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

before  a  single  individual,  in  our  part  of  the 
country,  even  heard  the  name  of  Luther,  to 
preach  the  gospel."  Christoffel,  Zwingli's  biog- 
rapher, says  that  the  two  Eeformers  began  their 
work  of  reformation  at  about  the  same  time; 
and  this  we  think  is  the  truth  of  the  matter ; 
they  began  their  respective  labors  for  the  eman- 
cipation of  human  hearts,  and  intellects,  at 
nearly  the  same  time,  without  any  knowledge 
of  each  other's  convictions  or  efforts.  The  full- 
ness of  time  had  come,  when  God  would  purge 
the  church  of  her  corruptions  and  errors,  and 
he  called  these  two  great  and  good  men,  with 
many  others,  to  begin  the  work  of  Reform. 

Christoffel  beautifully  adds  :  "  The  Spirit  of 
God  moved  Luther,  at  one  time  like  the  awful 
tempest  roaring  in  a  forest  of  German  Oaks ;  at 
another  like  the  Zephyr  soft  and  gentle,  scarcely 
agitating  the  leaves.  On  the  soul  of  Zwingli, 
the  Spirit  of  truth  arose  in  calm  majesty  like 
the  sun,  slowly  and  majestically  climbing  the 
blue  cerulean  over  some  Swiss  mountain  ;  he 
stood  immovable  in  the  storms  that  surrounded 
him,  like  one  of  his  native  mountains  when  the 
tempest  swathes  it  round  with  its  girdle  of 
horrors,  or  the  avalanche  leaps  from  its  side 
into  the  abysses  beneath." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

LIFE   AT   THE   HERMITAGE   OF   EINSIEDELN. 

Westward  from  Glarus,  and  behind  the 
Waggithal  mountains,  in  a  romantic  valley,  lay 
the  village  and  Cloister  of  Einsiedeln.  We  are 
to  follow  Zwingli  to  this  place  which  becomes 
the  center  of  his  reformatory  work  for  some  two 
years,  before  he  enters  upon  his  pastorate  at 
Zurich.  Feeling  that  his  mission  was  now 
accomplished  at  Glarus,  and  acting  on  the  advice 
of  the  Master :  "  When  they  persecute  you  in 
one  place,  flee  to  another,"  he  was  casting  about 
him,  as  to  what  course  he  ought  now  to  pursue, 
when  Providence  opened  the  way  for  his  engage- 
ment at  Einsiedeln. 

The  name  of  the  place  suggests  its  history ; 
the  German  word  "  Einsiedelei,"  signifies  life  of 
solitude — hence  a  Hermitage,  or  Cloister.  Such 
an  institution  has  been  in  existence  here  from 
the  days  of  Charlemagne.  According  to  tradi- 
tion,  one   Meinrad,   Count   of  Sulgen  on   the 

71 


72  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

Nectar,  built  a  chapel  on  the  "  Etzel,"  a  pass 
some  eight  miles  to  the  northward,  and  on  the 
way  to  lake  Zurich,  about  the  middle  of  the 
ninth  century.  His  reputation  for  sanctity, 
attracted  such  vast  numbers  of  devotees  to 
his  cell,  that  he  was  compelled  to  quit  it, 
and  retire  to  Einsiedeln,  where  he  founded 
the  Abbey,  in  honor  of  a  miraculous  image  of 
the  Virgin  Mary  presented  to  him  by  Hilde- 
garde,  Abbess  of  the  church  of  Notre  Dame  at 
Zurich.  He  was  assassinated  in  861,  and  his 
murderers  were  discovered  by  two  ravens  which 
the  holy  man  had  tamed,  and  which  hovered 
about  the  men  wherever  they  went,  croaking  and 
flapping  their  dusky  wings  until  the  miscreants 
reached  Zurich.  The  attention  of  the  people 
was  attracted  by  this  singular  circumstance,  and 
the  result  was  that  the  men  were  arrested,  tried, 
and  immediately  executed. 

The  reputation  of  St.  Meinrad  increased  so 
rapidly  after  his  death,  that  a  Benedictine  AVbey 
was  founded  on  the  spot  where  his  cell  had 
stood.  The  legend  relates  that  when  the  Bishop 
of  Constance  was  about  to  consecrate  the  church, 
on  the  fourteenth  of  September,  948,  heavenly 
voices  announced  to  him  at  midnight  that  the 
Saviour  himself,  surrounded  by  his  angels,  had 


LIFE  AT  THE  HERMITAGE  OF  EINSIEDELN.    73 

already  performed  the  ceremony.  A  bull  of 
Pope  Leo  VII.  confirmed  the  miracle,  and 
accorded  plenary  indulgences  to  all  who  should 
perform  the  pilgrimage  to  "Our  Lady  of  the 
Hermits."  The  offerings  of  the  crowd  of 
worshippers  were  a  source  of  great  wealth  to 
the  Abbey.  The  Emperor  Eudolph  of  Haps- 
burg  created  its  Abbot,  Prince  of  the  Empire  in 
1274,  and  this  dignitary  lived  in  almost  regal 
magnificence,  exercising  supreme  authority  over 
an  extensive  district. 

At  the  time  when  Zwingli  was  about  to  leave 
Glarus,  Conrad  of  Rechberg  was  the  Abbot  of 
Einsiedeln,  a  man  of  generous  impulses,  and  of 
great  independence  of  character.  He  was  a 
pious,  excellent,  upright  man  under  whose 
monk's  cloak  beat  as  warm  and  generous  a 
heart  as  ever  throbbed  under  a  coat  of  mail. 
In  his  youth  he  had  been  forced  to  join  the 
monks,  by  selfish  relatives,  who  paid  him  visits, 
now  that  he  had  risen  to  be  Abbot- Prince  of 
Einsiedeln.  These  visits  were  often  made  with 
the  view  of  obtaining  some  favor  in  the  gift  of 
the  Abbot.  It  is  characteristic  of  the  man  that 
on  one  occasion  he  said  to  them :  "  You  have 
stuck  a  cowl  upon  my  head  to  my  soul's  risk 
and  peril,  and  I  must  be  a  monk,  while  you  ride 


74  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

about  as  country  squires.  But,  my  good  people, 
since  you  have  made  a  poor  monk  of  me,  don't 
come  here  begging  anything,  but  just  return 
the  road  by  which  you  came." 

As  might  be  expected  from  the  character  of 
the  man,  he  held  very  independent  views  of  the 
outward  forms  of  worship,  which  in  that  day 
were  honored  as  the  grounds  of  salvation.  He 
was  once  reproached  by  the  visitors  of  the  church 
for  neglecting  to  say  mass.  He  replied :  "Al- 
though I  am  master  here  in  my  own  convent, 
and  could  send  you  away  with  a  very  short  ans- 
wer, yet  I  will  tell  you  plainly  what  I  think  of 
the  mass.  If  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  really  in 
the  host  (wafer),  I  know  not  how  very  highly  you 
esteem  yourselves ;  one  thing  I  know,  that  I  a 
poor  monk,  am  not  worthy  to  look  upon  Him, 
not  to  speak  of  offering  Him  up  in  sacrifice  to 
the  eternal  God.  If,  however,  He  be  not  present 
there,  woe's  me,  if  I  hold  up  bread  to  the  people 
before  the  Lord  our  God,  and  call  upon  them  to 
worship  bread.  I  shall,  if  God  will,  so  act  and 
so  preside  over  my  God's  house  that  I  may  be 
able  to  answer  to  myself  before  Him  and  the 
world.  As  I  have  no  need  of  you,  please  to  re- 
turn the  way  you  came ;  you  are  dismissed." 

He  was  also  impatient  of  doctrinal  discussions ; 


LIFE  AT  THE  HERMITAGE  OF  EINSIEDELN.    75 

and  once  when  Leo  Juda  was  discussing  some 
subject,  at  table,  with  the  administrator  of  the 
Abbey,  he  exclaimed  :  u  Let  me  put  an  end  to 
your  disputings  : — I  say  with  David, — '  Have 
mercy  upon  me,  0  God  !  according  to  thy  loving- 
kindness  :  Enter  not  into  judgment  with  thy 
servant !' — and  I  want  nothing  more."  In  fact 
Abbot  Conrad  was  more  fond  of  the  chase,  and 
of  his  fine  breed  of  horses  than  he  was  of  the 
discussions  of  the  priests ;  yet  he  was  an  upright 
man,  and  his  bluntness,  was  but  the  utterance 
of  candor  in  an  age  when  the  church  needed  re- 
formation. 

As  he  was  now  advanced  in  years,  he  had 
appointed  Baron  Theobald  Geroldseck  admin- 
istrator of  the  Abbey.  He  was  of  a  mild 
character,  sincerely  pious  and  fond  of  learning. 
He  thought  to  elevate  the  standing  of  his  in- 
stitution by  calling  around  him  a  company  of 
learned  men;  and  hearing  that  Zwingli  was 
about  to  leave  Glarus,  he  invited  him  to  Einsie- 
deln.  Accordingly  an  agreement  was  entered 
into  on  the  14th  of  April,  1516,  in  consequence 
of  which  Zwingli  undertook  the  office  of  preacher 
and  pastor,  assistant  to  the  people's  priest. 
Zwingli  was  not  moved  to  leave  Glarus  for  hope 
of  temporal  gain,  for  in  his  new  capacity  he  was 


76  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

to  receive  only  20  florins  at  the  quarter  fastings, 
a  trifle  from  the  penny  collections,  and  confes- 
sional, with  the  promise  of  a  full  pastorate  in 
the  future,  while  he  enjoyed  a  free  seat  at  the 
common  table. 

He  was  moved  to  take  the  place  therefore 
partly  because  of  the  French  opposition  already 
mentioned,  at  Glarus;  but  more  particularly 
with  the  hope  that  he  would  here  have  more 
time  for  study  and  conference  with  learned  men, 
and  be  able  to  exercise  a  greater  influence  upon 
his  fellow-men.  When  it  was  known  that  he 
was  to  leave  Glarus,  the  greater  portion  of  his 
people  were  filled  with  sorrow  and  regret.  His 
enemies  no  longer  spoke  against  him ;  and  his 
friends  gathered  around  him  with  the  greatest 
enthusiasm.  The  people  insisted  that  the  pasto- 
ral relation  should  not  be  severed,  and  in  hope 
that  he  might  again  return,  his  official  standing 
was  continued  for  some  years,  while  the  pastoral 
work  was  done  by  his  vicar  or  assistant. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances,  therefore, 
that  Zwingli  wended  his  way  down  the  narrow 
valley  of  the  Linth,  through  which  he  had 
passed  ten  years  before,  when  he  came  to  re- 
ceive this,  his  first  charge.  Arriving  at  the 
shore  of  Zurich  lake,  his  way  ran  southward, 


LIFE  AT  THE  HERMITAGE  OF  EINSIEDELN.   77 

over  the  Etzel  pass,  where  once  stood  the  hat  of 
the  hermit  Meinard,  and  from  thence  down  the 
mountain  side  to  the  romantic  green  valley  of 
the  Alpbach,  where  stood  the  stately  buildings  of 
the  Abbey,  which,  for  a  time  would  be  his  home. 
Here  Zwingli  was  received  with  open  arms 
by  Geroldseck,  who  with  Francis  Zink,  and  John 
Oechslin,  were  afterwards  bound  to  him  with 
the  ties  of  a  most  intimate  friendship.  In  this 
company,  with  time  for  study,  conference  and 
meditation,  he  made  rapid  advances  in  the 
divine  life.  His  friends  knew  how  to  appreciate 
his  scholarship,  and  soon  imbibed  his  views 
touching  the  need  of  reformation  in  the  church. 
He  brought  with  him  the  settled  conviction  that 
the  "Word  of  God  is  the  only  sure  directory  for 
faith  and  practice,  and  Christ  the  only  way  of 
salvation.  He  experienced  in  his  own  heart 
how  precious  and  dear  that  saying  is :  "  Jesus 
Christ  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners." 
To  his  friends  he  gave  the  advice,  that  they 
should  study  the  Fathers  as  he  had  done,  for 
the  better  understanding  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures ;  yet  he  added :  "  With  God's  grace,  the 
day  will  soon  come,  that  neither  Jerome,  nor 
any  other,  will  be  an  authority  in  matters  of 
faith,  but  the  Bible  alone." 


78  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

The  fruit  of  his  teachings  soon  began  to  ap- 
pear. Geroldseck  announced  to  the  nuns  in  the 
cloister  of  Fahr;  that  instead  of  daily  drawling 
over  the  mass-songs  in  their  usual  heedless 
manner,  they  were  to  read  the  New  Testament 
in  the  German  tongue ;  at  the  same  time,  that 
those  who  felt  themselves  burdened  by  their 
vows,  had  liberty  to  return  to  their  relatives. 
Those  who  remained  were  to  lead,  true  to  their 
vows,  a  virtuous  and  holy  life.  Accordingly, 
many  of  the  nuns  returned  to  their  homes. 

At  this  time  also,  Zwingli  made  good  use  of 
his  little  pocket  edition  of  the  New  Testament, 
which  he  had  previously  written  out  with  his 
own  hand,  as  already  stated,  in  the  Greek 
characters.  Daubigne  says :  "  He  learnt  by 
heart  the  whole  of  the  Epistles ;  then  the  re- 
maining books  of  the  New  Testament;  and 
after  that  portions  of  the  Old."  Unlike  Luther 
who  came  to  his  true  religious  experience  by  a 
shock,  Zwingli  seems,  from  the  first,  to  have 
found  light  from  his  gradual,  and  growing 
acquaintance  with  the  Scriptures.  His  former 
extravagant  fondness  for  the  classical  authors, 
was  now  absorbed  in  his  glowing  admiration  for 
inspired  writings ;  and  even  the  writings  of  the 
Fathers  became  less  esteemed  by  him,  except  as 


LIFE  AT  THE  HERMITAGE  OF  EINSIEDELN.    79 

they  served  to  throw  light  upon  the  pages  of 
inspiration. 

This  period  was  to  Zwingli  what  the  life  in 
the  wilderness  was  to  John  the  Baptist,  or  the 
sojourn  of  the  prophet  in  Horeb  was  to  Elijah, 
or,  considered  in  an  earthly  point  of  view,  what 
the  forty  days  of  fasting  and  temptation  were  to 
our  Saviour.  Here,  in  the  Abbey,  Zwingli  had 
leisure  to  pursue  those  investigations  which  lay 
so  near  to  his  heart,  and  here  he  gave  himself 
to  study  and  prayer.  He  also  prepared  himself 
with  care  for  the  pulpit.  He  studied  first  of  all, 
in  the  original,  the  section  which  the  church  pre- 
scribed to  be  read  in  Latin.  He  then  commented 
upon  the  passage  according  to  its  sense,  and  made 
the  practical  application  of  it,  without  suffering 
himself  to  be  fettered,  in  the  least  degree,  either 
by  the  dogmas  or  the  prejudices  of  the  church. 

According  to  his  own  statement,  Zwingli 
dated  his  conversion  from  the  time  he  read  the 
poem  of  Erasmus,  to  which  allusion  has  already 
been  made.  In  reference  to  that  event  he  thu3 
wrote  in  1523  :  "  I  shall  not  withhold  from  you, 
dear  brethren  in  Christ,  how  it  was  I  arrived  at 
the  conviction  and  firm  faith,  that  we  require 
no  other  mediator  but  Christ,  and  that  none 
but  Christ  alone  can  mediate  between  God  and 


80  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

man.  I  read,  eight  or  nine  years  ago,  (1514  ?) 
a  poem  of  Erasmus,  in  which  the  complaint  is 
made,  that  men  do  not  seek  all  good  from  Him, 
who  is  the  source  of  all  good.  Thereon  I  re- 
flected, why  do  we  seek  help  of  the  creature." 
That  was  the  dawn  of  his  true  religious  ex- 
perience, and  now  at  Einsiedeln,  his  convictions 
were  deepened,  and  so  his  became  the  path  of 
the  just,  "  as  the  shining  light,  that  shineth, 
more  and  more,  unto  the  perfect  day.'' 

But  as  the  light  of  God  was  shining  upon  his 
path  it  revealed  to  him  the  fact  that  a  dark  and 
dangerous  superstition  had  spread  itself  over  the 
Abbey  of  Einsiedeln.  The  tradition  of  that  an- 
gelic consecration  of  the  Cloister,  in  the  tenth  cen- 
tury when,  at  midnight,  heavenly  voices  announc- 
nounced  to  the  Bishop,  that  the  Saviour  himself 
with  his  retinue  of  saints  had  already  consecrat- 
ed it,  still  held  its  power  over  the  minds  of  the 
people.  The  image  of  the  Virgin,  said  to  have 
been  presented  to  the  monk  Meinard,  by  the 
Abbess  at  Zurich,  was  exhibited  within  the  shrine 
of  the  Abbey  church,  and  believed  to  perform 
wonders  for  those  who  brought  offerings,  and 
prayed  before  it.  They  were  taught  that  they 
would  be  forgiven  and  saved  through  Mary's  in- 
tercessions. 


LIFE  AT  THE  HERMITAGE  OF  EINSIEDELN.   81 

Over  the  gateway  of  the  magnificent  abbey, 
where  every  pilgrim  would  not  fail  to  see  them, 
were  inscribed  in  golden  letters,  these  words  : 
11  Hie  est  plena  remissio  omnium  peccatorum  a 
culpa  et  poena."  i.  e.,  u  Here  is  full  remission 
for  the  guilt  and  penalty  of  all  sin."  Daubigne 
says :  "A  multitude  of  pilgrims,  from  all  parts 
of  Christendom,  flocked  to  Einsiedeln,  that  they 
might  obtain  this  grace  for  their  pilgrimaga. 
The  church,  the  abbey,  the  whole  valley,  was 
crowded  on  the  occasion  of  the  festival  of  the 
Virgin,  with  her  devout  worshippers.  But  it 
was  especially  on  the  grand  festival  of  the 
angelic  u  Consecration,"  that  the  crowd  thronged 
the  hermitage.  Long  files  to  the  number  of 
several  thousands  of  both  sexes,  climbed  the 
steep  sides  of  the  mountain  leading  to  the  ora- 
tory, singing  hymns,  or  counting  the  beads  of 
their  chaplets.  These  devout  pilgrims  forced 
their  way  into  the  church,  believing  themselves 
nearer  to  God  there  than  anywhere  else." 

We  need  not  be  surprised  to  learn  that  the 
spirit  of  Zwingli  was  stirred  within  him  at  this 
sight.  He  was  now  compelled  to  witness  frequent 
scenes  of  this  kind.  It  was  not  an  easy  matter 
to  antagonize  such  an  extensive  custom  of  pil- 
grimage, and  false  devotion,  as  that  which  waa 


82  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

firmly  seated  in  Einsiedeln  at  that  time.  And 
Zwingli  was  to  receive  his  living,  in  part,  from 
the  proceeds  of  this  extensive  patronage  result- 
ing from  the  attendance  of  the  thousands  of  per- 
sons, from  all  parts  of  the  land,  at  the  annual 
festivals.  The  reader  has  by  this  time  learned 
enough  of  the  character  of  Zwingli,  however,  to 
infer  that  no  prestige  of  past  custom,  no  thought 
of  his  personal  interests  would  hinder  him  from 
speaking  out  plainly  against  these  abuses.  The 
extent  of  the  evil,  and  the  power  of  superstition 
in  its  aid,  with  which  Zwingli  had  to  contend, 
and  which  he  successfully  arrested,  may  be  in- 
ferred from  the  fact,  that  after  his  death,  these 
pilgrimages  to  Einsiedeln  were  renewed,  and 
are  continued  till  this  very  day. 

In  1798  the  greater  part  of  the  treasures  were 
carried  away  by  the  French,  but  the  monks  had 
rescued  the  image  of  the  Virgin,  and  kept  it  in 
the  Tyrol ;  and  when  danger  was  past,  they  re- 
turned with  it  to  Einsiedeln  again.  Since  that 
time,  pilgrimages  to  this  shrine  have  been  re- 
sumed. In  1710  the  number  of  pilgrims 
amounted  to  260,000 ;  it  is  now  said  to  average 
150,000  annually.  On  nigh  festivals  an  immense 
crowd  flock  hither  from  all  parts  of  Switzerland, 
from  Bavaria  and  Swabia,  the  Black  Forest, 


LIFE  AT  THE  HERMITAGE  OF  EINSIEDELN.    83 

Alsace,  Lorraine,  and  even  more  distant  regions. 
The  greater  proportion  belong  to  the  poorer 
classes,  many  of  whom  are  paid  for  their  pious 
services  by  the  rich,  who  thus  perform  an  act 
of  devotion  by  deputy.  With  the  exception  of 
Loreto  in  Italy,  Compostella  in  Spain,  Mariazeil 
in  Styria,  Einsiedeln  attracts  more  pilgrims 
than  any  other  shrine.  Like  Delphi  and  Ephe- 
sus,  in  their  day,  this  shrine  has  gathered  its 
thousands  of  pilgrims,  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration. Over  seven  hundred  workmen  are 
daily  employed  in  making  relics  to  sell  to  the 
pilgrims,  by  one  establishment;  which  traffic 
like  that  of  Demetrius,  who  made  silver  shrines 
for  Diana  at  Ephesus  brings  "  no  small  gain  to 
the  craftsmen."     Acts  19  :  24. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

PREACHING  TO   PILGRIMS  AT   EINSIEDELN. 

The  modern  tourist  who  visits  Einsiedeln, 
will  find  a  large  open  space  between  the  houses 
and  the  church,  in  which  stands  a  black  marble 
fountain,  surmounted  by  an  image  of  the  Virgin, 
from  which  the  pilgrims  are  wont  to  drink. 
Under  the  Arcades,  which  form  a  semicircular 
approach  to  the  church  on  the  right  and  left, 
as  well  as  in  the  square  itself,  there  are  numer- 
ous stalls  for  the  sale  of  missals,  images  of  saints, 
rosaries,  medals,  crucifixes,  and  similar  articles. 
Within  the  church  itself,  in  the  nave,  and  sepa- 
rated from  the  rest  of  the  building  stands  the 
chapel  of  the  virgin,  of  black  marble.  This  is 
the  Sanctum  Sanctorum,  to  which  pilgrims  pay 
particular  reverence.  A  grate  protects  the 
front,  through  which,  illuminated  by  a  solitary 
lamp,  a  small  image  of  the  Virgin  and  Child  is 
visible,  richly  attired,  and  adorned  with  crowns 
of  gold  and  precious  stones. 
84 


TEEACHING  TO  PILGRIMS  AT  EINSIEDELN.   85 

Judging  from  the  existing  power  which  this 
shrine  has  over  the  minds  of  the  more  credulous 
members  of  the  church  of  Rome;  and  remem- 
bering that  in  the  days  of  Zwingli  this  supersti- 
tion of  the  pilgrimage  was  at  its  height,  we  can 
imagine  what  a  task  lay  before  him  if  he  should 
lift  up  his  voice  in  opposition  to  the  custom 
which  so  delighted  the  pilgrims,  and  brought  in 
such  large  revenues  to  the  Abbey.  "We  must 
also  bear  in  mind  the  fact,  that  in  this  year  of 
1516,  there  was  no  general  movement  of  reform, 
of  which  tidings  had  come  to  this  part  of  Swit- 
zerland. It  was  not  until  the  following  year 
that  Luther  broke  away  from  the  papacy,  by 
nailing  his  ninety-five  theses  to  the  church  door 
in  Wittemberg.  If,  therefore,  Zwingli  attacks 
the  abuses  of  the  pilgrimages,  he  does  so  with- 
out any  evidence  that  he  will  receive  any  sym- 
pathy whatever,  except  from  the  little  circle  of 
his  intimate  friends.  But  on  the  other  hand  he 
knows  that  his  Abbot,  bluff  old  Conrad,  has  no 
heart  in  the  miserable  system,  and  he  knows 
that  right,  and  truth,  are  on  his  side. 

Zwingli  was  not  a  blind  enthusiast;  he  felt 
the  gravity  of  his  position,  just  as  much  as  Lu- 
ther did  at  the  Diet  of  Worms.  He  had  ju^t 
as  much  at  stake  as  Luther  had,  i.  e.,  his  life. 


86  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

And  he  thus  wrote  :  "  Once  for  all,  the  spirit 
must  be  so  consecrated  to  God,  that  it  may  hang 
inseparably  on  right,  truth,  and  God,  even  to 
the  los3  of  outward  means,  and  life  itself;  once 
for  all  the  die  must  be  cast,  and  death  looked 
steadily  in  the  face,  for  the  truth's  sake,  and  the 
soul  nerved  against  every  attack  of  the  flesh, 
the  world,  and  Satan."  He  accordingly  raised 
his  voice  against  the  delusions  here  practiced 
under  his  eyes.  Says  Christoffel :  "  His  soul 
indeed,  burned  with  a  holy  indignation  at  the 
dishonor  done  to  the  name  of  God,  and  the 
Saviour.  He  grieved  for  a  people  who,  instead 
of  finding  forgiveness  for  their  sins,  entangled 
themselves  faster  and  faster  in  the  net  of  Satan." 
The  same  author  gives  an  excellent  account 
of  Zwingli's  preaching  at  Einsiedeln.  "  God," 
the  preacher  cried,  "  is  everywhere  present,  and 
wherever  we  call  upon  Him,  in  spirit  and  in 
truth,  He  answers  us  in  the  words,  Here  I  am!" 
Those  then,  who  bind  the  grace  of  God  to  par- 
ticular localities,  are  altogether  foolish  and  per- 
verse ;  nay,  it  is  not  only  foolish  and  perverse 
so  to  do,  but  anti-Christian,  for  they  represent 
the  grace  of  God  as  more  easily  to  be  obtained, 
and  cheaper,  in  one  place  than  in  another,  which 
is  nothing  bui  to  limit  the  grace  of  God,  and 


PREACHING  TO  PILGRIMS  AT  EINSIEDELN.   87 

take  it  captive,  not  letting  it  be  known  how  free 
it  is.  God  is  in  every  part  of  the  earth  where  He 
is  called  upon,  present  and  ready  to  hear  our 
prayers,  and  to  help  us.  Wherefore  St.  Paul 
says  :  '  I  will  therefore — that  men  pray  every- 
where ....  In  like  manner  also  the  women,' 
1st  Timothy,  2  :  8,  9,  '  that  is,  we  are  to  know 
that  God  is  present,  and  hears  us,  when  He  is 
called  upon,  and  that  He  is  not  more  gracious 
in  one  place  than  in  another.'  " 

Of  course  the  utterances  of  Zwingli  suffer 
much  through  the  medium  of  a  translation,  but 
the  truths  he  proclaims,  are  unmistakeable,  and 
they  must  have  fallen  with  startling  effect  upon 
the  ears  of  that  people,  who  had  been  accus- 
tomed only  to  hear  the  efficiency  of  the  absolu- 
tion, to  be  obtained  just  there,  and  the  miracu- 
lous power  of  the  image  of  the  Virgin,  extolled. 
Zwingli  continued  :  "  Christ  calls  such  people  as 
bind  God  to  this,  or  that  place,  false  Christians, 
that  is  Anti-Christs.  '  There  shall  arise  false 
Christs,  and  false  prophets  and  deceive  many,' 
Matt.  24 :  24.  0  God,  who  else  is  a  hypocriti- 
cal Christian  but  the  Pope,  who  exalts  himself 
in  the  place  of  Christ,  and  says  he  has  his  power  ; 
so  he  binds  God  to  Rome,  and  other  sanctuaries. 
Thus  they  bring  money  in  enormous  quantities 


88  TEE    MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

to  enrich  holy  places,  which  in  case  of  need, 
might  well  be  applied  to  our  temporal  advan- 
tage. And  just  in  such  places  is  more  wanton- 
ness and  vice  perpetrated  than  anywhere  else. 
He  who  ascribes  to  man  the  power  to  forgive 
sins  blasphemes  God.  And  great  evil  has 
sprung  from  this  source,  so  that  some  whose 
eyes  the  Popes  have  blinded,  have  imagined 
they  had  their  sins  forgiven  by  sinful  men.  In 
this  manner  God  Himself  has  been  hid  from 
them.  To  ascribe  to  man  the  power  to  forgive 
sins  is  idolatry !  What  is  idolatry,  but  the  as- 
cription of  the  divine  honor  to  man,  or  the  giv- 
ing to  the  creature  that  which  is  God's." 

Surely  this  was  a  bold  utterance  for  any  priest 
to  make ;  evidently  he  takes  the  risk  of  suffer- 
ing what  Huss  suffered,  that  is  death.  But  he 
is  not  through  yet ;  he  refers  to  the  fact  men- 
tioned in  the  Scriptures  that  the  people  at  Lys- 
tra,  would  do  sacrifice  to  Paul,  and  Barnabas  as 
gods,  to  which  they  replied :  "  Sirs,  why  do  ye 
these  things  ?  We  also  are  men  of  like  passions 
with  you.  .  .  Turn  unto  the  living  God."  "  What 
think  you,  the  Virgin  Mary  would  say,  if  she 
were  to  witness  this,  that  men  sought  from  her, 
that  which  alone  is  God's  to  give?  Think  you 
not  that  she  would  say :  '  0  senseless,  deluded 


PREACHING  TO  PILGRIMS  AT  EINSIEDELN.   89 

men,  all  the  honor  I  have  conies  from  God! 
He  has  been  gracious  to  me,  and  made  me  a 
Virgin,  and  the  mother  among  all  women.  But 
I  am  no  goddess,  nor  any  source  of  blessing ; 
God  alone  is  that  Fountain,  who  has  ordained 
that  all  good  should  come  to  you  through  My 
Son.  By  attributing  to  me  that  which  alone  is 
God's,  ye  poor  mortals  attempt  to  change  the 
power  and  government  of  God.  For  verily 
since  the  beginning  of  the  world,  He  has  given 
to  no  creature  such  a  power  as  that  any  should 
flee  to  it  for  succor  as  if  it  were  God.  I  am  no 
god,  therefore  seek  not  from  me  that  which  is 

God's   alone   to  give." "  The  greatest 

honor  of  Mary  is  her  Son ;  it  is  likewise  her 
greatest  honor  that  we  rightly  know  Him,  and 
that  we  love  Him  above  all  things,  and  that  we 
manifest  our  eternal  gratitude  to  Him  for  His 
act  of  mercy  in  redeeming  us.  If  ye  will  honor 
her  then,  follow  her  purity,  and  her  steadfast 
faith." 

This  was  the  burden  of  Zwingli's  preaching, 
at  the  festival  of  the  angel-consecration,  in  1517, 
and  at  Pentecost,  1518,  before  great  crowds  of 
pilgrims.  Great  was  the  impression  it  made 
upon  the  pilgrims.  Some  fled  in  terror  from 
the  scene,  others  hovered  between  the  faith  of 


90  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

their  fathers  and  the  doctrine  that  was  to  give 
them  peace ;  others  turned  to  Christ  with  their 
whole  hearts,  and  returned  to  their  homes  bear- 
ing back  with  them  the  tapers,  and  gifts  intend- 
ed for  the  image  of  the  Virgin.  On  their  way 
they  met  many  other  pilgrims,  on  their  way  to 
the  shrine,  to  whom  they  related  what  had  ta- 
ken place ;  and  the  doctrine  of  Zwingli,  that : 
"  Christ  Alone  saves  us,  and  He  saves  every- 
where." Pilgrims,  as  they  heard  this,  turned 
back  without  bringing  their  pilgrimage  to  a 
close.  The  fame  of  Zwingli,  the  bold  and  un- 
compromising advocate  of  truth,  resounded 
through  the  towns  and  villages  of  Switzerland, 
Suabia,  and  Alsace.  "  In  truth,"  says  Daubigne, 
"  an  universal  astonishment  took  possession  of 
men's  minds  at  the  sound  of  the  eloquent  priest's 
sermons." 

Many  learned  men  were  drawn  to  Einsiedeln, 
to  hear  this  new  prophet  in  the  wilderness, 
among  whom  was  Dr.  Hedio,  then  the  preacher 
at  Basel ;  who  heard  Zwingli  preach  at  the 
Pentecost  festival,  1518,  from  Luke  5:  24, 
"  The  Son  of  man  hath  power  on  earth  to  for- 
give sins."  Hedio  was  so  deeply  affected  by  the 
discourse  that  he  afterwards  begged  Zwingli  to 
receive  him  into  the  number  of  his  friends,  or  at 


PREACHING  TO  PILGRIMS  AT  EINSIEDELN.   91 

least  to  let  him  be  the  shadow  of  one.  Of  the 
sermon  he  wrote  :  "  It  was  beautiful,  fundamen- 
tal, dignified,  comprehensive,  searching,  truly 
evangelical,  reminding  one,  in  force  of  language 
and  of  spirit,  of  the  old  fathers  of  the  church.'' 
Hedio  longed  to  go  to  the  preacher  and  open 
his  heart  to  him ;  he  lingered  about  the  Abbey 
without  daring  to  make  advances,  restrained,  as 
he  tells  us,  by  a  sort  of  superstitious  fear. 
Mounting  his  horse,  he  slowly  departed  from  the 
hermitage,  looking  back  on  a  spot  which  held 
so  great  a  treasure,  with  the  warmest  regrets. 

The  number  of  pilgrims  was  now  greatly  di- 
minished; that  great  stream  which  had  been 
flowing  to  this  spot  for  centuries,  bearing  with 
it  the  choicest  gifts  of  the  people,  seemed  to  be 
suddenly  checked.  And  it  is  recorded  that  the 
effect  of  Zwingli's  preaching  was,  at  one  time, 
so  great  that  the  monks  left  their  cells  on  the 
occasion  of  an  anniversary  festival,  and  the  ab- 
bey was  deserted  for  a  considerable  time. 

It  was  to  be  expected  that  a  part  of  the  monks, 
at  least,  would  be  indignant  at  the  course  pur- 
sued by  Zwingli.  This  was  indeed  the  case ; 
many  of  the  monks  were  scandalized,  but  the 
Abbot,  and  Geroldseck  protected  and  encouraged 
the  orator.     And  Zwingli  did  not  confine  his  ef- 


92  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

forts  to  the  pulpit ;  to  Cardinal  Schinner  he  said : 
"  Every  one  knows  that,  the  faith  and  practice 
of  Christians  have,  by  a  gradual  declension, 
departed  very  widely  from  sound  evangelical 
doctrine,  and  it  is  undeniable  that,  some  very 
great  reformation  of  laws  and  manners  is  abso- 
lutely necessary.  If  we  do  not  give  vent  to  the 
water,  the  dam  will  be  broken  in  by  force." 

To  the  papal  legate  Zwingli  said  :  "  I  have 
both  by  word  and  deed  witnessed  to  mighty 
cardinals,  prelates,  and  bishops,  of  the  errors 
in  doctrine  that  are  abroad,  and  warned  and 
counselled  them  to  remove  abuses,,  or  that  they 
themselves  would  perish  in  a  more  dreadful 
revolution.  I  have  told  Cardinal  Von  Sitten  at 
Einsiedeln,  (in  1519) ;  and  afterwards,  in  plain 
language,  that  the  papacy  has  a  false  foundation 
and  maintained  it  by  unanswerable  passages  of 
Holy  Writ.  And  he  replied,  that  if  he  was  re- 
stored to  power,  he  would  see  to  it  that  the  ar- 
rogance and  fraud  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  be 
brought  to  light,  and  put  an  end  to.  To  another 
legate  he  said  :  "  I  am  resolved  from  hencefor- 
ward to  preach  the  pure  Gospel  to  the  people, 
without  regard  to  the  statutes  of  men,  whereby 
without  doubt,  the  papacy  will  not  be  a  little 
shaken." 


PREACHING  TO  PILGRIMS  AT  EINSIEDELN.   93 

The  natural  inference  would  be,  after  reading 
all  this,  that  the  dignitaries  of  the  church  would 
proceed  to  silence  the  bold  preacher.  But  it 
did  not  suit  their  purpose,  to  put  him  under 
banns  at  present.  They  needed  his  help  against 
the  French  enlistments  ;  and  they  hoped  to  gain 
him  back  again  to  the  papacy.  Thus  they  pur- 
sued a  directly  opposite  course  from  that  pur- 
sued against  Luther.  As  Zwingli  was  more 
moderate  in  his  course,  although  equally  as 
firm,  he  gave  less  offence  to  men's  minds  than 
the  Saxon  monk ;  he  trusted  to  the  power  of 
truth  for  the  results.  Far  from  denouncing  in 
wholesale  terms,  the  dignitaries  of  the  church, 
he  continued  long  on  friendly  terms  with  them. 
They  treated  him  with  respect  on  account  of 
his  learning  and  talents,  and  also  on  account  of 
the  influence  which  they  foresaw  such  a  man 
would  be  likely  to  have  in  a  republic. 

Daubigne  says  :  "  Rome  sought  to  intimidate 
Luther  by  solemn  judgments  ;  and  to  win  Zwin- 
gli by  her  favors.  Against  one  she  hurled  ex- 
communications ;  to  the  other  she  cast  her 
gold  and  splendors.  They  were  two  different 
methods  for  attaining  the  same  end,  and  sealing 
the  daring  lips  which  presumed,  in  opposition  to 
the  Pope's  pleasure,  to  proclaim  the  Word   of 


94  THE    MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

God  in  Germany  and  Switzerland.  The  last 
device  was  the  most  skillfully  conceived,  but 
neither  was  successful.  The  enlarged  heart  of 
the  preachers  of  the  Gospel  were  showrn  to  be 
above  the  reach  of  vengeance,  or  seduction. 

Zwingli  was  now  the  recipient  of  a  new  honor 
from  the  Pope  ;  he  wTas  created  Acolyte-chaplain 
of  the  papal-chair.  The  grand  document  of  in- 
vestiture ran  as  follows  :  "  Distinguished  by  his 
virtues  and  great  merits,  he  deserves,  in  the 
eyes  of  the  Pope  and  the  holy  apostolic  chair,  a 
recognition  of  his  great  learning,  and  some  dis- 
tinguished mark  of  paternal  approbation."  He 
was  counselled  to  go  on  improving,  and  advan- 
cing from  good  to  better,  and  by  his  merits  to 
incline  the  Pope,  and  the  Legate,  to  grant  far- 
ther testimonies  in  his  favor.  The  ladder  was 
thus  planted  at  the  feet  of  the  Reformer,  by 
which  he  might  mount  to  the  highest  honors 
the  world  had  to  bestow ;  but  Zwingli  chose  the 
crown  of  thorns  and  the  cross  of  Christ,  before 
worldly  glory.  He  gave  up  even  the  little  sti- 
pend allowed  him,  for  the  purchase  of  books, 
and  thus  turned  away  from  all  the  earthly 
profits,  which  now  might  so  easily  have  been  his. 

The  promised  reforms  under  Cardinal  Schin- 
ner,  and  others,  were  not  carried  out ;  so  Zwingli 


PREACHING  TO  PILGRIMS  AT  EINSIEDELN.   95 

appealed  to  Landenburg,  then  Bishop  of  Con- 
stance, to  stay  the  corruption  of  the  Church  in 
his  own  diocese,  and  recommend  to  his  clergy 
the  preaching  of  the  pure  Gospel.  But  the 
Bishop  showed  as  little  will,  or  power,  in  the 
cause  of  church  reform,  as  the  Pope  and  his  car- 
dinals, although  he  had  previously  maintained 
strong  language  on  the  subject  of  the  degener- 
acy of  the  church.  Zwingli  sent  his  message  in 
a  letter.  The  Bishop  read  it,  and  only  tossed  it 
aside  with  the  remark  :  "  Convent  preachers  are 
not  my  advisers,  when  the  holy  father  orders  a 
reform,  it  will  be  time  enough  to  begin  it." 

Still  Zwingli  persevered  in  his  good  work, 
with  frankness  and  earnestness,  always  testi- 
fying for  the  truth  and  looking  for  a  better 
time  to  come.  On  one  occasion  when  he  was 
walking  through  the  romantic  valley  at  the 
Hermitage,  with  his  friend  Capito,  he  said: 
"  The  papacy  must  fall."  To  which  the  friend 
replied :  "  The  sooner  the  better.'*  And  yet 
Capito  himself,  in  after  time,  lost  heart  under 
the  discouragements  of  the  bitter  opposition, 
while  Zwingli,  with  the  cheerfulness  character- 
istic of  him,  persevered  to  the  end. 

The  freedom  of  the  church  was  not  to  be  won 
by  any  faint-hearted  reformers ;  only  those  who 


96  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

set  their  hearts  as  a  flint,  as  did  Luther  and 
Zwingli ;  who  persevered,  when  all  around  was 
discouraging  to  common  men,  won  the  true  re- 
former's crown.  They  made  mistakes,  it  is  true ; 
they  were  not  infallible ;  they  may  have  been 
saddened,  and  often  pained,  at  the  apparent  in- 
difference of  those  who  should  have  stood  with 
them,  but  with  each  defeat  they  rose  to  higher 
planes  of  action ;  and  when,  at  last,  they  fell 
asleep  in  death,  others  arose  who  faithfully 
carried  on  the  issue,  until  victory  was  achieved. 
Their  names  stand  written  on  the  fair  pages  of 
history,  which  record  the  acts  of  the  great  and 
good.     And  as  Coleridge  beautifully  writes  : 

"  Goodness  and  greatness  are  not  means,  but  ends. 
Hath  he  not  always  treasures,  always  friends, 
The  good  great  man  ?     Three  treasures-love,  and  light, 
And  calm  thoughts,  equable  as  infant's  breath ; 
And  three  fast  friends  more  sure  than  day  or  night — 
Himself,  his  Maker,  and  the  angel  Death?" 


CHAPTER  IX. 

A   CONFLICT   WITH   SAMSON. 

One  day  in  the  month  of  August,  1518, 
there  appeared  upon  the  St.  Gottard  pass  a 
strange-looking  procession.  It  was  a  sort  of 
caravan,  or  resembled,  more  nearly,  a  band  of 
strolling  actors.  In  advance  went  two  men, 
making  a  proclamation,  and  directing  the  atten- 
tion of  the  people,  who  looked  on  with  amaze- 
ment, to  the  interests  that  were  to  be  presented 
to  them  by  the  character  who  had  charge  of  the 
enterprise.  The  individual  who  was  thus  her- 
alded came  on  apace.  He  was  a  monk  from 
Italy,  of  the  Carmelite  order,  barefooted  and 
covered  with  dust.  His  name  was  Samson, 
and  he  had  in  his  custody  an  immense  quan- 
tity of  papers,  which,  he  took  care  to  explain, 
contained  the  signature  of  the  Pope.  These 
papers,  or  certificates,  were  called  indulgences. 

As  soon  as  he  arrived  in  a  village  he  made  his 
proclamation  :  that  "  for  the  required  amount  of 
7  97 


98  THE  MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

money  "  he  would  dispose  of  these  indulgences  to 
any  one  who  would  purchase  them.  Strange  as 
it  seems  to  us  now,  the  poor  people,  who  made 
their  living  by  hard  toil,  and  frequent  exposure 
to  the  rigorous  climate  of  Switzerland,  who  fol- 
lowed the  life  of  the  herdsman,  or  the  farmer, 
crowded  around  this  man,  and  began  to  pour 
their  hard-earned  money  into  his  coffers.  And 
what  was  it  that  they  hoped  to  gain  by  this  in- 
vestment? The  complete  pardon  of  all  their 
sins.  In  their  haste  to  secure  the  coveted  prize, 
they  contended  with  one  another  as  to  who 
should  be  first  to  part  with  his  little  pittance, 
saved  up  for  the  needs  of  the  coming  winter, 
and  hand  it  all  over  to  the  agent  of  the  Pope. 
Let  us  not  smile  at  their  eagerness  or  their 
convictions.  Postered  in  poverty  and  ignorance, 
they  had  been  trained  up  from  childhood  to  the 
belief  that  authorized  men  could  absolve  them 
from  the  guilt  and  penalty  of  sin.  They  are 
rather  to  be  pitied  than  blamed  for  their  readi- 
ness to  give  even  their  last  penny  for  such  a 
boon.  Many  pilgrims  went  to  Eome  each  year 
that  they  might  receive  these  certificates ;  and 
now,  the  better  to  accommodate  their  needs  (for 
many  of  them  were  too  poor  to  make  a  pilgrim- 
age to  Eome),  the  Pope  kindly  sent  forth  his 


A   CONFLICT   WITH   SAMSON.  99 

commissioued  agent  to  dispose  of  these  indulgen- 
ces at  their  very  doors.  Why  should  they  not, 
therefore,  show  their  appreciation  of  this  favor 
by  patronizing  the  wares  ready  to  hand  ? 

The  purchaser  had  a  double  advantage  of- 
fered him :  he  might  secure  the  pardon  of  his 
own  sins,  and  also  deliver  the  souls  of  his  de- 
ceased friends  from  the  pains  of  purgatory.  The 
money  thus  obtained  was  named  Peter's  Pence, 
and  was  devoted  to  the  cost  of  building  the 
great  St.  Peter's  Church  at  Pome.  It  was  the 
ambition  of  Pope  Leo  X,  then  seated  in  the 
papal  chair,  to  erect  a  structure  that  would  out- 
shine all  other  churches  in  its  size  and  magnifi- 
cence. And  when  the  funds  ran  short  he  sent 
forth  these  agents,  as  other  popes  had  done  be- 
fore him,  and  thus  he  realized  a  handsome  in- 
crease. The  passage  of  four  centuries  since 
has  made  this  traffic  seem  very  odious  to  us ; 
but  at  that  time  it  was  only  a  brave  man  that 
dared  to  raise  an  objection. 

Samson  made  his  way  towards  the  canton 
where  Einsiedeln  was  situated,  known  as  the 
Schwitz.  Here  he  began  to  proclaim  :  "  I  can 
forgive  all  sins  ;  heaven  and  hell  stand  under  my 
dominion  ;  and  I  sell  the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ 
to  each  and  every  one  who  is  willing  to  pay  in 


100  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

ready  money  for  an  absolution/'  Wherever  he 
came  Samson  erected  a  red  cross  in  one  of  the 
churches  as  the  sign  of  his  office,  which  he  al- 
leged was  equally  efficacious  with  the  cross 
upon  which  the  Saviour  suffered.  He  caused  his 
arrival,  and  his  business,  and  the  time  of  his  stay 
to  be  announced  from  the  pulpits,  and  then 
proceeded  with  his  traffic.  The  rich  were  taxed 
in  proportion  to  their  wealth,  and  obliged  to 
pay  high  prices  for  the  pardons,  and  the 
poor  were  urged  to  keep  in  the  background 
lest  they  crowd  out  the  wealthy  patrons. 

At  last  the  tidings  of  these  doings  reached  the 
ears  of  Zwingli.  On  the  next  Sabbath  he  openly 
attacked  the  whole  system.  He  said  :  a  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  has  said,  '  Come  unto 
me  all  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I 
will  give  you  rest.'  It  is  audacious  folly  and 
shameless  impudence  to  say  :  '  Bun  to  Rome, 
buy  a  ticket  of  absolution,  give  this  to  the 
monks,  that  to  the  priests ;  if  you  do  so,  then  I 
pronounce  you  free  from  all  sin  !  '  No  ;  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  only  sacrifice,  the  only  gift,  the 
only  way."  This  bold  utterance  was  not  with- 
out effect ;  it  only  needed  one  to  stand  out  in 
opposition  to  such  a  traffic,  when  many  others 
would  take  heart  to  decry  it.     But  there  must 


A   CONFLICT   WITH   SAMSON.  101 

always  be  a  first  one,  like  Luther,  who  opposed 
this  same  abuse  under  Tetzel  in  Saxony,  and 
here  again  Zwingli,  in  Switzerland.  If  the 
soldiers  at  Concord  fired  a  shot  that  was  heard 
around  the  world,  these  two  Beformers,  without 
arms,  inaugurated  a  revolution  that  never  has, 
and  never  can,  go  backward. 

From  that  time  forward  Samson  found  diffi- 
culty in  the  prosecution  of  his  errand  in  the 
Schwitz.  He  hastily  withdrew  from  the  canton 
and  retreated  to  points  where  the  clarion  voice 
of  Zwingli  had  not  yet  penetrated.  And  yet  the 
influence  followed  him,  and  seriously  hindered 
the  success  of  his  efforts.  The  people  throughout 
the  canton  began  to  say  :  u  Samson  is  a  cheat  and 
a  robber/'  He  feared  an  uproar,  dreaded  to  meet 
Zwingli,  and  left  hurriedly  for  another  canton. 

Samson  turned  back,  first  to  Zug,  where  he 
continued  his  traffic,  and  then  no  doubt  thinking 
it  safe  to  place  a  considerable  distance  between 
Zwingli  and  himself,  for  the  present,  he  went  on 
to  Lucerne.  From  Lucerne  he  went  to  Ober- 
land,  and  arrived  at  length  in  the  vicinity  of 
Bern.  But  before  speaking  of  his  doings  there, 
we  will  mention  an  incident  connected  with  his 
visit  to  the  Schwitz. 

There  was  a  citizen  there  of  good  standing, 


102  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

who  had  patronized  the  monk  to  such  an  extent 
that  he  became  suddenly  reduced,  with  his  fam- 
ily, to  extreme  poverty.  In  his  extremity  he 
applied  to  Zwingli,  stating  that  he  was  unable 
to  satisfy  his  hunger  and  that  of  his  children. 
Now  it  might  be  presumed  that  many  would 
upbraid  him  with  his  folly  in  giving  away  his 
living;  for  the  worthless  indulgences.  Not  so 
with  Zwingli ;  his  was  too  true  a  Christian  heart 
to  permit  him  to  adopt  such  a  course.  Daubigne 
says :  "  Zwingli  could  give  when  Eome  would 
take,  and  he  was  as  ready  to  do  good  works  as 
he  was  to  oppose  those  who  taught  that  they 
were  means  by  which  we  are  saved.  He  daily 
supplied  Stapfer  with  support.  "It  is  God," 
said  he,  intent  on  taking  no  credit  to  himself, 
"  it  is  God  who  begets  charity  in  the  believer, 
and  gives  at  once  the  first  thought,  the  resolve, 
and  the  work  itself."  The  grateful  man  never 
forgot  his  friend  in  need,  and  four  years  after 
this,  when  he  was  the  honored  Secretary  of  the 
Canton,  he  turned  to  Zwingli,  seeking  that 
which  alone  can  supply  the  wants  of  the  soul, 
and  said  :  u  Since  it  was  you  who  once  supplied 
my  temporal  wants,  how  much  more  may  I  ex- 
pect you  may  point  me  to  that  which  shall  sat- 
isfy the  famine  of  my  soul." 


A   CONFLICT   WITH   SAMSON.  103 

The  authorities  at  Bern  were  not  disposed  to 
admit  Samson  within  their  city.  But  through 
the  good  offices  of  some  who  were  friendly  to 
him,  he  at  last  succeeded  in  spreading  his  wares 
in  St.  Vincent's  Church.  He  was  encouraged 
at  his  success  in  getting  a  hearing,  and  became 
very  bold  in  his  proclamation.  To  the  rich  he 
said  :  u  Here  are  indulgences  on  parchment  for 
one  crown."  And  to  the  poor  he  said  :  "  There 
are  absolutions  on  common  paper  for  three  half- 
pence only."  One  incident  at  Bern  is  related 
that  seems  hardly  credible.  It  is  the  case  of 
Jacob  Von  Stein,  a  knight  of  high  standing, 
who  came  galloping  up  to  the  place  where  Sam- 
son was  engaged  one  day,  and  asked  for  absolu- 
tion for  himself,  his  five  hundred  followers,  his 
ancestors,  and  his  whole  family.  The  horse  on 
which  the  knight  was  seated  pleased  the  monk, 
and  a  bargain  was  soon  made,  whereby  the 
wholesale  indulgence  was  granted,  and  the  horse 
was  led  away  to  the  monk's  stable.  Samson 
played  the  part  of  a  giant  here  indeed,  and 
forced  an  aged  man,  who  was  very  worthy,  and 
greatly  respected  by  all,  to  fall  upon  his  knees 
before  him,  and  ask  his  pardon,  for  having  let 
fall  a  word  in  criticism  of  the  system  of  indul- 
gences. 


104  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

The  Bernese,  as  we  remarked  above,  seem  to 
have  been  a  merry  people,  and  it  may  be,  on 
this  account  that  Samson  reserved  his  greatest 
deed,  at  this  place,  till  the  last.  The  monk  took 
his  place  upon  the  high  altar  in  the  church,  and 
had  Henry  Lupulus  (Wolf),  Zwingli's  former 
teacher,  for  his  interpreter.  "  When  the  wolf 
and  the  fox  come  abroad  together,"  said  a  good 
man  to  another  minister,  "  the  wisest  plan  for 
you  is  to  gather  your  sheep  and  geese,  with  all 
speed,  into  a  place  of  safety."  To  such  remarks 
Samson  paid  no  heed,  if,,  indeed,  he  heard  them ; 
but  in  a  loud  voice  he  called  out :  "  Fall  on 
your  knees,  repeat  three  paternosters  and  three 
Ave-Marias,  and  you  will  instantly  be  as  pure  as 
you  were  at  the  moment  of  your  baptism." 
The  people  fell  on  their  knees,  and  Samson  cried 
out :  u  I  deliver  from  the  torments  of  purgatory 
and  hell  the  souls  of  all  the  people  of  Bern  who 
have  departed  this  life,  whatsoever  may  have 
been  the  manner  or  the  place  of  their  death." 
To  us  such  a  scene  would  be  shocking  in  the  ex- 
treme. Such  a  great  change  has  the  Reforma- 
tion produced  in  the  thought  of  the  world  that, 
we  may  hope,  such  conduct  may  never  be  re- 
peated. 

Samson  had  been   very  successful  at  Bern, 


A   CONFLICT   WITH   SAMSON.  105 

and  went  away  with  a  well -filled  treasury,  and 
presenting  quite  a  different  appearance  from  the 
poor  display  he  made  when  he  first  came  over 
the  St.  Gottard  pass.  He  came  as  far  as  Baden, 
and  forming  a  procession  he  marched  around 
the  graveyard.  While  thus  engaged  he  cast 
his  eyes  toward  heaven,  while  his  aids  chanted 
the  hymn  for  the  dead ;  and  pretending  that  he 
saw  the  liberated  souls  flying  up  from  the 
churchyard  toward  heaven,  he  cried  out :  "  Be- 
hold, they  fly  !  "  A  rude  but  effective  rebuke 
was  administered  to  him,  by  a  man  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, who  climbed  up  in  the  church  steeple 
and  ripping  open  a  pillow  of  feathers  let  them 
scatter  downward  through  the  air,  exclaiming  : 
"  Behold,  they  fly !  "  This  had  the  effect  of 
bringing  his  traffic  into  ridicule,  and  greatly 
angered  the  monk.  He  was  only  prevented 
from  taking  vengeance  on  the  man  by  hearing 
that  he  was,  at  times,  disordered  in  his  intellect. 
Afterward  he  appeared  at  Bremgarten,  where 
the  Bev.  Dean  Bullinger,  whose  son  afterward 
became  a  noted  reformer,  opposed  his  objec- 
tional  mission.  No  sooner  had  he  settled  him- 
self at  the  hotel  than  Bullinger  came  to  him 
and  forbade  the  sale  of  indulgences  within  his 
charge.      "  Here   are   the   Pope's   bulls,"  said 


106  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

Samson,  "  open  your  church  to  me."  As  he  did 
not  have  the  authority  of  the  bishop  of  that 
canton,  Bullinger  said :  "  I  will  suffer  no  one 
under  the  color  of  such  letters  to  squeeze  the 
purses  of  my  people."  Samson  said :  "  The 
pope  is  above  the  bishop.  I  charge  you  not  to 
deprive  your  flock  of  so  marvellous  a  grace." 
The  Dean  replied :  "  Were  it  to  cost  me  my  life, 
I  will  not  open  my  church.  Samson  then  be- 
came fiercely  angry,  and  said :  "  In  the  name 
of  the  Pope  I  pronounce  against  thee  the 
greater  excommunication,  nor  will  I  grant  thee 
absolution  until  you  have  paid  three  hundred 
ducats."  But  the  Dean  was  true  to  his  position 
and  said  :  "I  am  prepared  to  answer  for  myself 
before  my  lawful  judges.  As  for  thee  and  thy 
excommunication,  I  have  nothing  to  do  with 
either."  The  position  of  Zwingli  was  beginning 
to  have  a  wholesome  effect  in  many  parts  of 
Switzerland,  and  in  the  end  was  destined  to 
drive  Samson  back  again  over  the  Alps,  but 
not  until  they  had  come  into  close  quarters  once 
more  in  the  new  field  wherein  our  Eeformer  is 
now  to  be  stationed. 


CHAPTER   X. 

FROM   THE   HERMITAGE    TO   THE   CITY. 

The  time  had  now  arrived  when  Zwingli  was 
to  take  his  departure  from  the  usually  quiet  re- 
treat of  Einsiedeln.  His  work  at  this  point, 
had  been  attended  with  great  success  ;  he  had 
here  challenged  the  grave  abuses  which  had 
crept  into  the  church,  and  for  the  time,  had 
turned  backward  that  tide  of  deluded  pilgrims 
who,  year  by  year,  for  ages  past  had  swept  over 
the  Etzel-Pass,  to  worship,  "  Our  Lady  of  the 
Eremites. "  He  had  here  forged  one  sentence, 
which  the  Christian  ages  should  ever  repeat  as  a 
sufficient  answer  to  all  theories  of  religious  wor- 
ship at  the  shrine  of  some  reputed  saint :  "  Christ 
alone  saves  us,  and  He  saves  everywhere.1' 

Here  also  he  had  given  the  true  watchword 
against  the  pardon  of  pope  and  priest,  in  the 
words  of  Christ  Himself :  "  Come  unto  me  all 
ye  that  labor,  and  I  will  give  you  rest."  He 
had  made  many  enemies  it  is  true,  but  he  had 

107 


108  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

also  made  many  true  friends,  and  he  had  the 
witness  in  his  bosom  that  he  had  discharged  his 
duty. 

About  this  time  a  vacancy  occurred  in  the 
Cathedral  church  at  Zurich.  The  rising  repu- 
tation of  Zwingli  led  his  friends  to  suggest  his 
name  for  the  place.  But  no  sooner  was  his 
name  proposed  than  his  enemies,  of  the  papacy, 
began  to  make  opposition,  and  to  thrust  forward 
candidates  of  their  own  views.  Attached  to  the 
cathedral  itself  was  a  college  of  canons,  connect- 
ed with  which,  was  a  school  placed  under  the 
care  of  Oswald  Myconius,  Zwingli's  friend.  The 
teacher  used  his  utmost  endeavor  to  have  Zwin- 
gli appointed.  What  a  blessing  it  would  be, 
thought  Oswald,  to  Zurich,  to  have  this  man  to 
fill  the  place  !  Zwingli's  manners  and  appear- 
nce  were  prepossessing ;  he  was  already  re- 
marked for  his  eloquence,  and  distinguished 
among  all  the  confederated  Swiss  for  his 
brilliant   genius. 

Myconius  spoke  of  him  to  the  provost  of 
the  chapter,  Felix  Frey,  w7ho  was  favorably 
disposed.  Other  men  of  authority  were  con- 
sulted, and  many  signified  their  willingness 
to  vote  for  the  late  pastor  at  Einsiedeln.  And 
a  number  of  citizens,  who  had  heard  Zwingli's 


FROM  THE  HERMITAGE  TO  THE  CITY.       109 

eloquent  discourses,  on  the  occasion  of  the  pil- 
grimages, spoke  in  his  favor. 

But  the  opposition  were  active  also,  and 
brought  forward  one  Lorenzo  Fabel,  a  Suabian, 
and  a  strong  advocate  of  the  papacy,  and  had 
him  officiate  at  Zurich  as  a  candidate.  But  his 
record  as  to  morality  was  not  good,  and  gave 
rise  to  objections  on  the  part  of  many.  All 
Zurich  was  astir  with  interest  regarding  the 
matter.  Myconious  wrote  to  Zwingli  of  Fabel, 
and  said  that  the  man  was  what  his  name  im- 
ported a  Fable.  And  on  receipt  of  the  tidings 
that  the  Suabian  was  actually  elected,  Zwingli 
wrote  to  his  friend  :  "  True  it  is  then,  that  no 
prophet  is  honored  in  his  own  country,  since  a 
Suabian  is  preferred  before  a  Swiss."  But  the 
report  was  without  foundation ;  the  previous 
bad  conduct  of  the  man  had  prevented  his  elec- 
tion, and  Zwingli  might  yet  be  chosen. 

Among  the  objections  raised  against  Zwingli, 
by  his  opponents  was  that  there  were  rumors 
against  the  character  of  the  man  dating  from 
his  pastorate  at  Glarus.  It  seems  likely  that 
these  rumors  were  set  afloat  in  order  to  offset 
the  well  known  licentiousness  of  Fabel.  When 
Zwingli  was  written  to  on  the  subject,  he  frank- 
ly replied  that  he  had  been  tempted,  and  in  the 


110  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

impulse  of  youth  had  been  led  away  into  improper 
conduct  at  one  time,  which  he  had  sincerely  re- 
pented of,  and  for  which  he  hoped  he  was  for- 
given. And  we  can  the  more  readily  excuse  a 
weakness,  on  the  part  of  Zwingli,  when  we 
remember  the  rude  customs  of  the  times,  and 
the  teachings  which,  for  many  generations,  had 
been  tolerated  by  the  church  of  Rome.  The 
result  of  the  exciting  canvas  for  the  pulpit  at 
Zurich  was  that  Zwingli  received  seventeen,  out 
of  twenty-four  votes,  and  was  declared  elected. 

When  it  was  known  that  he  was  to  leave 
Einsiedeln,  his  friends,  the  Abbot  and  Gerold- 
seck,  with  the  little  coterie  that  had  gathered 
about  him,  and  had  hung  upon  his  teachings 
with  joy,  became  very  sad  at  the  thought  of 
parting  from  him,  and  yet  they  rejoiced  that 
such  a  wide  field  would  now  be  opened  to  him, 
and  wished  him  all  success.  Even  the  Council 
of  Schwitz,  transmitted  to  him  an  address,  in 
which  they  styled  him  "  their  reverend,  learned, 
and  very  gracious  Master,  and  worthy  friend." 
And  they  added  :."  Although  we  are,  in  part, 
grieved  by  your  departure  from  among  us,  yet, 
on  the  other  hand,  we  rejoice  with  you  in  all 
that  ministers  to  your  honor  and  advantage." 

Nor  were  these  the  only  marks  of  apprecia- 


FROM  THE  HERMITAGE  TO  THE  CITY.       Ill 

tion  bestowed  upon  him.  The  people  at  "Win- 
terthur  had,  a  short  time  before  this,  invited 
him  to  become  their  pastor ;  and  his  former 
flock  at  Glarus  wished  him  to  return  to  them. 
He  did  make  them  a  visit  before  entering  upon 
his  new  field  of  labor.  He  resigned  the  honor- 
ary pastorate  which  they  had  persuaded  him  to 
retain  hitherto,  and  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing 
his  friend  Dingauer,  whom  he  had  recommended 
to  them,  chosen  as  his  successor.  In  like  man- 
ner he  was  asked  to  name  a  successor  at  Einsie- 
deln,  and  recommended  Leo  Juda,  and  he  was 
warmly  welcomed  there.  Thus  was  his  charac- 
ter vindicated  by  those  who  had  been  near  to 
him  during  his  entire  ministerial  life,  from  the 
charge  of  his  enemies,  who  opposed  his  election 
at  Zurich. 

Having  thus  taken  a  friendly  leave  of  his 
former  friends,  he  turns  his  face  towards  his 
new  field  of  labor.  He  goes  with  the  kind  re- 
membrance of  many  affectionate  hearts,  and 
with  a  record  that  time  can  never  efface.  Once 
more  he  climbs  the  heights  of  the  Etzel,  and  the 
blue  waters  of  lake  Zurich,  stretch  out  before 
him,  at  the  farther  end  of  which,  lies  the  city 
he  is  now  to  enter  as  his  future  home.  It  was 
a  December  morning ;  a  gray  fog  hung  upon 


112  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

the  hilltops,  while  the  sun's  rays  were  glinting 
along  the  icy,  and  snow  crowned,  mountain  peaks 
in  the  distance.  In  the  struggles  of  the  morn- 
ing sun,  with  the  cloudy  vapors,  he  beheld,  says 
Christoffel :  "  an  image  of  that  conflict  with  the 
powers  of  darkness  which  he  himself  was  now 
hastening  to  wage."  And  as  he  sailed  on  over 
the  waters  of  the  lake,  these  were  the  thoughts 
which  filled  his  mind,  and  which  he  reduced  to 
writing :  "  As  the  heaven,  peaceful  and  clear, 
encircles  with  its  blue  canopy  high  over  head, 
the  whole  earth,  though  lightnings  and  tempests 
be  beneath ;  thus  the  truly  wise  man,  the  Chris- 
tian, rises  above  all  storms  and  tempests.  If 
you  weigh  all,  you  will  find  that  the  principle 
of  good  is  stronger  than  that  of  evil,  and  that  in 
the  end,  virtue  overcomes  vice.  True  wisdom 
obtains  the  mastery  over  iniquity ;  for  at  the 
moment  when  this  has  reached  its  culminating 
point,  the  divine  power  seizes  it  and  hurls  it 
into  the  abyss.  Herein  God  shows  His  power." 
The  lake  of  Zurich  is  a  lovely  sheet  of  water, 
lovely  even  in  that  land  of  charming  inland  seas, 
and  lofty  mountains.  It  is  twenty-five  and  a 
half  miles  long,  and  two  and  a  half  wide.  It  is 
the  shape  of  a  crescent ;  or  rather  like  one  of 
those  long  winding  horns  on  which  the  Swiss 


FROM  THE  HERMITAGE  TO  THE  CITY.       113 

are  accustomed  to  play  their  wild  melodies, 
which  ring  among  the  mountain  peaks,  with 
many  playful  echoes,  as  the  herdsmen  follow 
their  cattle  up  to  the  lofty  summits,  when  sum- 
mer suns  have  worn  away  the  past  winter's 
snow.  The  indented  shores,  the  cultivated  slopes, 
the  orchards,  and  farm  houses,  with  here  and 
there  a  pretty  hamlet  set  down  by  the  water's 
edge,  form  the  outlines  of  a  pleasing  landscape 
Lake  Zurich  is  fed  by  the  Linth,  the 
stream  which,  it  will  be  remembered,  flows  down 
from  Glarus  to  the  lake  of  Walienstadt ;  and  so, 
by  the  ancient  bed  of  the  Maag,  these  waters 
flow  on  towards  Zurich,  which  stands  at  the 
farther,  or  northern  end.  The  outlet  of  the  lake, 
Zurich  is  the  river  Limmat,  abroad,  clear,  flow- 
ing stream,  which  speeds  on  its  way  northward 
to  the  Ehine,  bearing  with  it,  in  its  swift  pas- 
sage along  the  streets  of  Zurich,  and  down 
through  fertile  valleys  beyond,  the  pure  waters 
of  the  Glarus  hills.  And  so,  we  may  add,  the 
reformer  who  began  his  great  work  at  Glarus, 
is  now  on  his  way  to  bring  the  glad- tidings  of  a 
free  Gospel  to  Zurich ;  whence  it  will  flow  out 
through  many  valleys,  and  by  many  mountain- 
sides, into  various  other  lands,  to  make  glad  the 
hearts  of  the  people. 
8 


114  THE    MOUNTAIN    BOY. 

Zwingli  entered  Zurich  on  the  27th  day  of 
December  and  went  immediately  to  the  hotel 
of  "  The  Hermits/'  where  for  the  present  he 
tarried,  and  where  he  was  waited  upon  by  many 
of  the  citizens  who  would  bid  him  welcome  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord.  Not  all,  however,  were 
thus  kindly  disposed.  Many  feared  his  uncom- 
promising sternness,  as  he  had  been  represented 
to  them  in  no  favorable  light.  He  went  at 
once  to  a  meeting  of  the  Chapter,  where  he  re- 
ceived the  following  instructions :  "  You  will 
use  your  utmost  diligence  in  collecting  the 
revenues  of  the  chapter,  not  overlooking  the 
smallest  item.  You  will  exhort  the  faithful,  both 
from  the  pulpit  and  from  the  confessional,  to  pay 
all  dues  and  tithes,  and  to  testify,  by  their  of- 
ferings, the  love  which  they  bear  to  the  church. 
You  will  be  careful  to  increase  the  amount  that 
arises  from  the  visitation  of  the  sick,  from 
masses,  and  in  general  from  all  ecclesiastical  or- 
dinances. As  to  the  administration  of  the  sa- 
craments, preaching,  personally  watching  over 
the  flock,  these  are  all  among  the  duties  of  the 
priest.  But  for  the  performance  of  these  you 
may  employ  a  vicar  to  act  in  your  stead,  espe- 
cially in  preaching.  You  are  to  administer  the 
sacraments  only  to  persons  of  distinction,  and 


FROM  THE  HERMITAGE  TO  THE  CITY.      115 

when  especially  called  upon.  You  are  not 
allowed  to  administer  them  indiscriminately  to 
people  of  all  ranks." 

We  may  well  imagine,  from  our  previous  ac- 
quaintance with  this  man,  who  was  reared 
among  God's  grandest  works  in  nature,  and 
who  has  now  been  made  free  from  the  servile 
bondage  of  the  Eomish  priesthood,  and  brought 
into  "  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of 
God,"  through  Christ,  that  he  will  not  be  bound 
to  a  mere  office  of  getting  money  from  the  peo- 
ple. His  nature  was  totally  averse  to  such  em- 
ployment. His  spirit  was  too  noble,  too  free, 
too  generous  to  allow  himself  to  be  made  a  mere 
collector  of  revenues,  as  were  the  sordid  priests 
of  the  age.  Besides,  he  was  a  minister  of  God's 
word.  He  felt  the  force  of  that  utterance  of 
St.  Paul :  "  Woe  is  me  if  I  preach  not  the  Gos- 
pel." We  will  see  how  he  will  reply  to  this 
wonderful  challenge  with  which  he  is  confronted 
upon  his  first  entrance  into  Zurich. 

Zwingli,  with  that  grace  which  made  him  a 
distinguished  man  wherever  he  came,  at  first 
courteously  tendered  his  thanks  for  the  honor  of 
his  election  to  the  vacant  office.  He  then  gave 
them  plainly  to  understand  that  it  was  his  firm 
and  decided  intention  to  preach  the  history  of 


116  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

Jesus  Christ,  our  Redeemer,  according  to  the 
Gospel  of  Matthew,  that  the  people  might  not, 
as  hitherto,  to  the  great  dishonor  of  the  name  of 
God,  and  Him  after  whom  they  are  called,  know 
Christ  by  name  only,  while  they  were  ignorant 
of  the  whole  history  of  His  life  and  redemption. 
He  would,  therefore,  take  up  the  whole  of  the 
Gospel  of  Matthew,  and  preach  it,  verse  by 
verse,  and  chapter  by  chapter  without  regard  to 
the  commentaries  of  men,  by  which  he  would 
not  be  bound,  but  give  the  sense  according  to 
the  light  received  in  answer  to  prayer,  and  by  a 
diligent  study  of  the  originals.  This  he  would 
do  to  the  praise  and  glory  of  God  and  His  only 
Son,  for  the  salvation  of  souls  and  their  upbuild- 
ing in  the  true  faith. 

This  was  indeed  a  noble  position,  and  canons 
Utinger,  Englehard,  Walder  and  others  rejoiced 
at  it,  but  Provost  Frey  and  the  canon  Hoffman 
were  excited  with  alarm  and  grief.  All  felt 
themselves  on  the  eve  of  great  events.  Hoff- 
man arose  and  said  that  he  hoped  the  election 
they  had  made  would  be  followed  by  no  bad  re- 
sults. Such  an  exposition  of  the  Scriptures 
would,  in  his  opinion,  do  more  harm  than  good, 
and  others  warned  the  new  priest  against  inno- 
vations which  could  result  in  nothing  but  evil. 
And  here  the  matter  rested  for  the  time. 


CHAPTER  XL 

A   NEW   STYLE   OF   PREACHING. 

The  visitor  to  Zurich  is  everywhere  im- 
pressed with  the  air  of  antiquity  which  spreads 
itself  over  the  place,  while  at  the  same  time  he 
notes  the  thrift  and  enterprise  which  mark  its 
modern  aspect.  It  contains  over  twenty-one 
thousand  inhabitants,  and  is  the  most  flourish- 
ing Swiss  town  in  its  silk  and  cotton  manufac- 
tories, and  other  industries,  while  at  the  same 
time  it  is  the  literary  centre  of  Swiss-Germany. 
The  literary  activity  dates  from  the  time  of 
Zwingli,  who  is  still  regarded  as  the  great  man 
of  early  Swiss  history,  as  Luther  is  regarded  in 
Germany.  Relics  of  Zwingli  have  been  care- 
fully preserved  and  are  shown  to  the  modern 
visitor  with  great  courtesy,  as  well  as  honest 
pride,  by  its  worthy  citizens. 

Close  beside  the  Limmat,  which  divides  the 
city  into  two  parts,  stands  the  building  now  used 
as  the  Town  library  though  it  was  called  the 


118  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

"  Water  Churcli  "  formerly,  because  it  was  sur- 
rounded by  the  current  of  the  river.  Here  one 
is  shown  a  letter  which  Zwingli  wrote  to  his 
wife,  his  Greek  New  Testament,  written  out 
with  his  own  hand,  and  many  other  mementoes 
of  his  life  and  works.  Only  a  few  steps  away, 
resting  on  a  terrace  against  the  slope,  stands 
the  Cathedral,  or  "  Minster,"  as  it  is  called, 
where  Zwingli  preached.  The  building  fronts 
the  north,  and  hence  has  its  side  toward  the 
river,  which  is  only  a  few  rods  distant,  while  in 
its  rear  stands  the  old  structure,  once  used  as  a 
cloister,  but  since  the  Reformation  as  a  school, 
now  occupied  by  the  public  school,  and  swarming 
with  children  and  youth.  It  was  in  this  build- 
ing that  Myconius  taught,  who  had  been  so  effi- 
cient in  securing  the  post  of  honor  for  Zwingli. 
The  old  Cathedral  looks  majestic  and 
venerable  as  it  towers  above  the  surrounding 
structures,  with  its  round-topped  towers  at 
either  corner,  and  its  broad  doors  opening  on 
the  terrace  below.  Within,  it  is  massive  in  its 
style  of  architecture,  but  very  plain.  The  pul- 
pit stands  at  the  side,  against  one  of  the  heavy 
columns,  just  at  the  entrance  to  the  choir,  which 
is  now  stripped  of  every  vestige  of  ornamenta- 
tion, and  is  seated  with  pews,  as  is  the  rest  of 


A   NEW   STYLE   OF   PREACHING.  119 

the  church.  Deep  galleries  run  along  either 
side,  adding  to  the  great  capacity  of  the  struc- 
ture, but  giving  it  a  heavy  and  rather  sombre 
look.  The  place  probably  wears  essentially  the 
same  appearance  that  it  did  in  the  time  of 
Zwingli,  after  the  images  had  been  removed,  ex- 
cepting the  changes  which  the  passing  years 
have  wrought  upon  its  ancient,  gray  walls. 

In  this  building  Zwingli  first  made  his  ap- 
pearance on  his  thirty-sixth  birthday,  January 
1st,  1519.  The  church  was  filled  by  a  nume- 
rous assembly,  attracted  by  the  reputation  of 
the  preacher  and  the  desire  to  hear  the  new 
Gospel  of  which  he  was  the  acknowledged  expo- 
nent. Without  a  lengthy  and  ornate  introduc- 
tion, but  as  if  weightier  matters  engaged  his 
thought,  the  preacher  said  :  "  It  is  to  Christ 
that  I  wish  to  guide  you, — to  Christ,  the  true 
spring  of  salvation.  This  divine  Word  is  the 
only  food  that  I  seek  to  minister  to  your  hearts 
and  souls."  He  then  repeated  his  resolution, 
which  he  had  already  expressed  to  the  canons, 
that  he  intended  to  expound  the  Gospel  of 
Matthew,  in  connection  with  other  passages  of 
Scripture,  commencing  on  the  morrow,  which 
would  be  the  Christian  Sabbath. 

His  external  appearance  made  a  fine  impres- 


120  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOT. 

sion.  For,  according  to  Bullinger,  he  was  a 
fine-looking  man  in  form  and  figure,  and  he  was 
now  in  the  flower  of  his  manhood.  "  Let  one," 
says  Hagenbach,  "  only  look  at  his  portrait ;  let 
him  observe  this  energetic,  well-compacted 
head,  this  marked  physiognomy,  as  if  stone- 
carved,  this  expansive  forehead,  this  full,  clear  eye, 
this  compressed  mouth,  with  the  well-rounded 
lips."  Lavater  reads  in  this  cast  of  countenance 
"  earnestness,  reflection,  manly  resolution,  con- 
centrated energy,  a  far-  seeing,  penetrating  un- 
derstanding." Christoffel  adds  :  "To  a  power- 
ful frame  of  body  he  added  a  well-modulated, 
deep-toned  voice.  In  preaching  he  had  an 
agreeable  delivery,  highly  appropriate  to  the 
subject.  His  language  was  simple,  popular  and 
dignified ;  in  exposition  it  was  clear  and  per- 
spicuous, in  administering  discipline  serious  and 
fatherly,  in  warning  urgent,  coming  home  to  the 
soul,  in  comforting,  warm  and  affectionate. 

On  the  following  day  the  preacher  again  ap- 
peared, and,  agreeably  to  his  promise,  took  up 
the  first  chapter  of  St.  Matthew's  Gospel.  A 
still  larger  assemblage  was  present.  The  nave 
of  the  u  Minster,"  the  aisles,  the  capacious  gal- 
leries were  all  filled  to  their  utmost  capacity, 
and  every  eye  was  fixed  upon  the  man  who  was 


A   NEW   STYLE   OF   PREACHING.  121 

to  begin  a  new  work  in  their  midst.  The 
preacher  opened  the  Gospel,  the  book  that  had 
so  long  been  sealed,  and  read  the  first  page. 
This  long  catalogue  of  names  became  as  a  por- 
trait gallery  under  the  skilful  tongue  of  the 
speaker.  The  patriarchs,  the  prophets,  the  line 
of  human  ancestry  leading  up  to  Christ,  all 
passed  in  review  before  the  delighted  audience, 
and  when  the  service  was  concluded  all  ex- 
claimed in  astonishment  and  delight:  "We 
never  heard  the  like  of  this  before."  It  was  a 
noted  occasion,  and  many  hopes  were  indulged 
that  a  great  work  would  be  wrought  in  Zurich, 
by  the  ministry  thus  auspiciously  begun. 

As  time  passed  on  the  impression  was  deep- 
ened. The  preacher  continued  his  explanation 
of  the  Gospel,  and,  prepared  by  faithful  study 
and  earnest  prayer,  he  went  on  to  apply  it  to 
the  practical  affairs  of  life  and  to  the  deep-seated 
errors  of  the  human  heart.  At  the  same  time 
he  magnified  the  glory  and  majesty  of  God  the 
Father,  taught  that  He  alone  was  to  be  wor- 
shipped in  spirit  and  in  truth ;  and  showed  that 
all  men,  without  distinction,  could  obtain  salva- 
tion in  none  other  but  in  Christ.  At  the  same 
time  he  warned  against  every  kind  of  supersti- 
tion, of  will-worship  and  hypocrisy.     With  up- 


122  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

lifted  voice  lie  preached  repentance  and  amend- 
ment of  life,  the  exercise  of  Christian  charity 
and  fidelity.  lie  attacked  with  resolution  the 
vices  most  spread  among  the  people  ;  he  preached 
earnestly  against  inordinate  expense  in  eating 
and  drinking,  and  the  wearing  of  fine  clothes ; 
against  oppression  of  the  poor,  against  merce- 
nary wars,  and  the  taking  of  gifts  or  bribes  in 
the  shape  of  pensions.  Herein  he  spared  neither 
pope  nor  emperor,  king  nor  duke,  princes  nor 
nobles,  not  even  the  confederates  themselves. 

All  his  discourses  rested  on  the  foundation  of 
God's  Word,  which  he  explained  and  expounded 
as  he  went  along,  and  it  was  pervaded  by  the 
conviction  that,  in  the  end,  and  by  the  help  of 
God,  truth  and  righteousness  would  gain  the 
day  over  lying,  error,  hypocrisy  and  vice.  This 
description  comes  from  his  contemporaries,  one 
of  whom  adds :  "  All  his  comfort  was  in  God, 
in  whom  he  trusted,  and  in  whom  he  rejoiced. 
He  exhorted  the  town  of  Zurich  to  place  their 
trust  in  Him." 

That  Zwingli  was  a  stern  and  gloomy  pro- 
phet, who  never  presented  the  consolations  of 
the  Gospel,  who  never  dwelt  upon  the  love  and 
tenderness  of  Christ,  is  a  great  mistake.  Fear- 
less as  he  was  in  attacking  vice  in  every  form, 


A   NEW   STYLE   OF   PREACHING.  123 

he  always  had  regard  to  the  intellectual  and 
spiritual  deficiencies  of  his  hearers.  He  once 
said  of  his  own  course:  " Christ  praises,  very 
highly,  the  faithful  steward  who  gave  to  the 
household  of  his  Lord  their  meat  in  due  sea- 
son. Matt.  24 :  45.  I  strive  to  set  before  me 
the  duty  of  dividing  the  word  of  God  so  that 
there  may  be  the  greater  fruits.  We  do  not 
plow  and  sow  in  winter,  but  in  spring.  So  I 
sought  to  adapt  my  words  to  the  condition  of 
my  hearers,  giving  each  his  portion  of  meat  in 
due  season.  I  pointed  them  to  the  mercy  of  God 
revealed  in  Jesus  Christ.  Thus  I  fed  them  with 
milk,  for  they  were  not  able  to  receive  the  strong 
meat  of  the  word,  till  some  of  them  who  were 
most  bitter  against  me,  at  first,  in  the  end,  gave 
themselves  to  the  Lord." 

The  fact  alluded  to  here  is  only  what  we  might 
expect  from  the  earnest,  eloquent,  and  tender 
manner  in  which  Zwingli  preached.  One  year 
after  he  began  his  ministry  here,  it  is  said, 
two  thousand  persons  had  given  their  hearts  to 
God.  He  himself  adds :  "  They  felt  in  their 
hearts  how  sweet  the  Lord  is,  and  that  every 
one  who  knows  Him  aright  must  cry  out  with 
the  disciples,  '  Lord  to  whom  shall  we  go  ? 
Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life.'     Or  as  in 


124  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

the  words  of  Solomon,  "  I  held  him  and  would 
not  let  him  go."  For  he  who  has  learned  to 
know  God  aright,  and  has  been  led  heme  by  His 
hand,  like  a  strayed  child,  can  never  leave  Him ; 
and  though  by  the  force  of  bodily  pains  the 
mouth  were  brought  to  deny  him,  yet  the  heart 
would  still  adhere  to  him,  for  it  knows  that  God 
alone  is  its  salvation  through  Jesus  Christ. 
And  I  tell  those  this  day  who  preach  the  word 
of  God,  and  who  preach  it  so  as  to  draw  salva- 
tion from  it  alone,  that  the  trust  in  the  one 
living  and  true  God  will  go  on  to  increase  while 
the  trust  in  the  refuges  of  lies  will  decrease  and 
decay  ;  and  since  man  must  put  his  whole  confi- 
dence in  God,  and  in  Him  alone,  I  had  rather 
yield  somewhat  to  human  weakness  than  that 
the  doctrine  of  Christ  were  altogether  put 
aside."  Here  we  see  the  ripest  Christian  expe- 
rience portrayed,  blended  with  tender  pity  for 
the  errors  of  the  weak  and  ignorant. 

Christoffel  remarks  the  admirable  union  in 
Zwingli  of  heroic  courage  and  firm  resolution, 
with  a  tender  delicacy  of  feeling  toward  the 
weak.  The  man  who  was  so  firmly  founded  in 
the  word  of  God  that  he  could  say  :  "lam  sure 
that  this  is  the  mind  of  God ;  and  though  you 
threaten  me  with  all  the  malice  of  Eome,  with 


A   NEW   STYLE   OF   PREACHING.  125 

all  the  fire  of  Aetna,  or  of  hell  itself,  I  shall  not 
budge  from  it,"  could  yet  admit  to  a  boy  who  re- 
called to  his  mind  a  false  expression  he  had 
made  use  of  in  the  pulpit,  that  he  was  wrong, 
saying  to  the  critical  youngster,  u  We  can  learn 
much  from  boys  when  they  are  sharp  and  atten- 
tive." In  this  manner  Zwingli  soon  won  the 
love  of  many  hearts,  and  his  influence  over  them 
was  always  salutary,  for  he  brought  to  them 
not  only  fresh  instruction,  but  he  led  them  to 
the  feet  of  the  Saviour,  and  there  they  found 
rest  to  their  souls. 

At  the  hearing  of  his  first  sermon  there  were 
men  who  before  this  had  entirely  withdrawn 
themselves  from  all  religious  service,  on  the 
ground  that  the  sermons  delivered  there  lacked 
the  one  thing  needful,  which  the  preacher  had 
not  himself  learned — the  truth.  These  men  said  : 
"  God  be  praised,  here  is  a  preacher  of  the 
truth  indeed ;  he  will  be  our  Moses,  and  will 
lead  us  out  of  Egypt."  Myconius,  as  usual,  is 
quite  carried  away  by  his  friend's  eloquence, 
and  says :  "  Never  had  there  been  seen  a  priest 
in  the  pulpit  with  such  an  imposing  appearance 
and  commanding  power,  so  that  you  were  irre- 
sistibly led  to  believe  that  a  man  from  the  apos- 
tolic times  was  standing  before  you." 


126  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

The  fact  that  such  a  distinguished  preacher 
was  at  the  Minster  drew  vast  crowds  to  hear 
the  word  of  God.  And  as  many  farmers  at- 
tended the  market  on  Fridays  who  were  unable 
to  attend  on  Sunday,  Zwingli  preached  on  that 
day  from  the  Psalms,  as  he  continued  to  do 
from  the  Gospels  on  Sunday.  These  discourses 
had  a  marked  effect  upon  these  people  from  the 
surrounding  districts  ;  and  many  of  them  carried 
the  seeds  of  divine  truth  back  with  them  to  their 
distant  homes.  This  led  the  Town  Council  of 
Zurich  to  issue  a  mandate  to  the  parish  priests, 
curates  and  others,  in  town  and  country:  "  That 
they  should  freely  and  everywhere  preach  the 
Holy  Gospels  and  the  Epistles,  and  that  they 
all  should  speak  the  same  language,  as  the 
Spirit  of  God  should  direct  them,  and  they  were 
only  to  teach  that  which  they  could  prove  from 
the  Bible.  But  as  for  the  doctrines  and  com- 
mandments that  were  of  man's  institution,  they 
should  let  them  alone."  It  was  due  to  this  fact, 
no  doubt,  that  many  of  the  more  earnest  and 
worthy  priests  of  the  canton  came  into  accord 
with  Zwingli,  and,  imbibing  his  spirit,  began  to 
preach  Bible  truth. 

But  along  with  this  pleasant  picture  we 
must   present   the   fact   that   many   opponents 


A   NEW   STYLE   OF   PREACHING.  127 

were  to  be  found  on  every  side,  and  besides 
grave  troubles  afflicted  the  affairs  of  government 
in  the  Cantons,  in  which  it  was  the  duty  of  Zwin- 
gli,  as  "  Folk-Preacher,"  to  take  part.  He  was 
constantly  found  among  the  people,  visiting  and 
conversing  with  them  freely  everywhere,  trying 
to  follow  the  example  of  the  Divine  Master,  of 
whom  it  was  said  :  "  The  common  people  heard 
him  gladly,  and  He  went  about  doing  good." 

The  sociability  of  Zwingli  contributed  not  a 
little  to  his  popularity.  He  frequented  the 
places  where  the  civic  companies  or  trading 
bodies  held  their  meetings,  explaining  to  the 
people  the  leading  articles  of  the  Christian  faith, 
or  holding  familiar  conversation  with  them. 
He  treated  all  with  equal  respect,  and  it  was 
charged  against  him  by  his  enemies  that  "  He 
invited  the  country  folks  to  dinner,  walked  with 
thern,  talked  to  them  about  God,  and  often  put 
the  evil  one  in  their  hearts  and  his  own  wri- 
tings into  their  pockets." 

He  still  loved  music,  but  indulged  in  it  with 
moderation,  notwithstanding  which  his  enemies 
named  him  the  "  Evangelical  lute-player  and 
piper."  Faber,  who  was  formerly  his  friend, 
reproved  him  for  his  love  of  music.  He  replied  : 
11  My  dear  Faber,  thou  knowest  not  what  music 


128  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

is.  I  do  not  deny  that  I  have  learned  to  play 
the  lute  and  violin,  and  other  instruments,  and 
at  worst  they  serve  me  to  quiet  little  children 
when  they  cry ;  but  as  for  thee  thou  art  too 
holy  for  music  ;  and  dost  thou  not  know,  then, 
that  David  was  a  cunning  player  on  the  harp, 
and  how  he  chased  the  evil  spirit  out  of  Saul  ? 
Oh  !  if  thy  ears  were  but  awake  to  the  notes  of 
the  celestial  lute,  the  evil  spirit  of  ambition  and 
greediness  of  wealth,  by  which  thou  art  pos- 
sessed, would  in  like  manner  depart  from  thee." 
The  Reformer  composed  the  music  of  several  of 
his  Christian  lyrics,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that 
some  one  will  discover  and  publish  these  manu- 
scripts as  a  contribution  to  our  reformation  his- 
tory, in  which  field  there  is  abundant  material 
which  will  richly  repay  the  successful  collector. 
It  belongs  to  this  part  of  our  work  to  speak 
of  Zwingli's  system  of  labor,  also.  From  sun- 
rise till  ten  o'clock  he  employed  himself  in  read- 
ing, writing,  or  translating ;  the  Hebrew  espe- 
cially during  that  portion  of  the  day  occupied 
much  of  his  attention.  After  dinner  he  gave 
audience  to  those  who  had  any  communication 
to  make  to  him,  or  stood  in  need  of  any  of  his 
advice ;  he  walked  out  in  company  with  his 
friends  and  visited  his  people.     At  two  o'clock 


A   NEW   STYLE   OF   PREACHING.  129 

he  resumed  his  walk.  He  took  a  short  turn 
after  supper  and  then  began  writing  letters, 
which  often  engaged  him  until  midnight.  He 
always  read  and  wrote  standing,  and  never  al- 
lowed the  customary  allotment  of  his  time  to  be 
disturbed,  except  for  some  very  important  cause. 
In  all  this  we  can  plainly  see  how  well  Zwin- 
gli  was  adapted  to  be  the  forerunner  of  the  Pro- 
testant pastor,  how  nearly  he  hit  upon  the 
spirit,  life,  and  conduct  of  the  minister  of  a  free 
Gospel,  going  out  and  in  among  his  people,  not 
clad  in  priestly  robes,  and  bearing  himself  with 
a  lofty  ecclesiastical  dignity,  but  as  one  of  their 
own  number,  like  them  responsible  to  God  for 
his  conduct,  he  led  the  way  toward  heaven.  He 
was  also  remarkably  cheerful  in  spirit.  No  ca- 
lamity at  this  time  ever  daunted  him.  His 
speech  was  ever  hopeful,  his  heart  ever  stead- 
fast. He  sat  alternately  at  the  poor  man's 
scanty  board,  and  the  banquet  table  of  the 
great,  as  his  Master  had  done  before  him,  and 
everywhere  he  strove  to  advance  the  cause  of 
Christ. 

9 


CHAPTER  XII. 

SHADOWS  AND   SORROWS. 

When  the  warm  days  of  July  and  August 
approach,  and  the  melting  snow  and  ice  swell 
the  streams  which  pour  down  the  ravines  of  the 
Alps,  great  clouds  of  vapor  often  arise  and  hide 
their  lofty  summits  from  the  sight.  These 
clouds  are  wafted  onward  by  the  summer  breeze, 
and  cast  their  shadows  upon  the  long  grassy 
slopes  which  lie  between  the  mountains  and  the 
lakes.  Their  dusky  forms  may  stand  for  those 
shadows  which  are  now  to  fall  upon  the  eventful 
experience  of  Zwingli. 

First  among  the  troubles  wrhich  came  upon 
him  at  this  time  was  the  approach  of  the  monk 
Samson,  from  whom  we  lately  parted  at  Brem- 
garten,  towards  Zurich.  Partial  success  in  his 
sale  of  indulgences  had  made  him  bold,  and  in 
his  controversy  with  Dean  Bullinger  he  had  re- 
solved to  appeal  to  the  deputies  of  the  Confed- 
eration at  Zurich  for  permission  to  continue  his 
130 


SHADOWS  AND  SORROWS.       131 

trade  throughout  the  cantons.  Both  parties 
came  on  to  test  the  issue  before  the  deputies ; 
and  as  Zwingli  saw  the  gradual  progress  of  the 
bold  monk,  he  again  lifted  up  his  voice  against 
the  whole  system  by  which  Samson  was  getting 
great  gains.  The  latter  when  on  his  road  to 
Zurich  said :  "  I  know  that  Zwingli  will  speak 
against  me,  but  I  will  stop  his  mouth." 

Zwingli  knew  well  the  blessedness  of  the  sense 
of  sins  forgiven,  but  he  knew  also  that  only 
Christ  could  forgive  them.  He  said  :  "  When 
Satan  attempts  to  terrify  me,  crying  aloud : 
1  Lo !  this  and  that  thou  hast  left  undone, 
though  God  has  commanded  it!' — the  gentle 
voice  of  the  Gospel  brings  me  instant  comfort, 
for  it  whispers  :  '  What  thou  canst  not  do,  and 
of  a  truth  thou  canst  do  nothing,  that  Christ 
does  for  thee,  and  does  it  thoroughly/  '  Yes, 
when  my  heart  is  wrung  with  anguish  by  rea- 
son of  my  impotency,  and  the  weakness  of  the 
flesh,  my  spirit  revives  at  the  sound  of  these  joy- 
ful words  ;  Christ  is  thy  sinlessness  !  Christ  is  thy 
righteousness !  Christ  is  the  Alpha  and  the 
Omega  ;  Christ  is  the  beginning  and  the  end  ; 
Christ  is  all ;  He  can  do  all !  All  created  things 
will  disappoint  and  deceive  thee ;  but  Christ,  the 
sinless  and  the  righteous,  will  accept  thee.'" 


132  THE    MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

Eeferring  again  to  Samson,  he  said:  "  No 
man  has  power  to  remit  sins — except  Christ 
alone,  who  is  very  God  and  very  man  in  one. 
Go  if  thou  wilt,  and  buy  indulgences.  But  be 
assured,  that  thou  art  in  nowise  absolved.  They 
who  sell  the  remission  of  sin  for  money,  are  but 
companions  of  Simon  the  magician,  the  friends 
of  Balaam,  the  ambassador  of  Satan."  When 
Samson  at  last  with  the  effrontery  of  his  craft 
arrived  at  an  inn  in  the  suburbs  of  Zurich,  and 
while  he  had  his  foot  in  the  stirrup  ready  to 
mount  his  horse  and  ride  into  the  city,  he  was 
accosted  by  messengers  from  the  council,  who 
while  courteous  as  they  thought  becoming  to- 
wards an  agent  of  the  Pope,  intimated  to  him 
that  he  might  forego  his  intention  of  appearing 
in  Zurich.  The  seller  of  pardons  replied  :  "  I 
have  somewhat  to  communicate  to  the  Diet,  in 
the  name  of  his  Holiness. 

This,  Daubigne  says,  was  only  a  stratagem.  It 
was  determined,  however,  that  he  should  be  ad- 
mitted ;  but  as  he  spoke  of  nothing  but  his  bulls, 
he  was  dismissed,  after  having  been  forced  to 
withdraw  the  excommunication  he  had  pro- 
nounced against  the  Dean  of  Bremgarten.  He 
departed  in  high-dudgeon  ;  and  soon  after,  the 
Pope  recalled  him  to  Italy.      A  cart,  drawn  by 


SHADOWS  AND  SORROWS.        133 

three  horses,  and  loaded  with  coin,  obtained  un- 
der false  pretences  from  the  poor,  rolled  before 
him  over  those  steep  roads  of  the  St.  Gottard, 
along  which  he  had  passed  eight  months  before, 
indigent,  unattended,  and  encumbered  by  no 
burden  save  his  papers." 

But  a  far  greater  conflict  awaited  Zwingli 
than  this  in  connection  with  his  patriotic  efforts. 
It  has  been  remarked  already  that,  even  when  at 
Glarus,  he  had  taken  strong  grounds  against  the 
foreign  military  service,  which  had  been  so 
long  the  bane  of  Switzerland.  As  the  evil  con- 
tinued he  could  not  be  silent,  and  perform  his  duty 
to  his  people.  And  it  was  the  more  necessary 
for  him  to  take  a  deep  interest,  and  an  active 
part  in  the  affairs  of  state,  since  in  Switzerland 
the  Government  was  in  the  hands  of  the  people. 

"  No  nation,"  says  Seebohm,  "  was  so  ab- 
solutely without  a  central  authority  as  the 
Swiss.  Each  canton  was  as  independent  of  the 
others,  for  most  purposes,  as  the  petty  feudal 
states  of  Germany.  When  Machiavelli  com- 
plained of  the  divisions  of  Italy  preventing  its 
becoming  a  nation,  he  warned  the  Italians  of  the 
danger  of  a  country  being  '  cantonized '  like 
Switzerland.  But  there  was  this  difference  be- 
tween a  Swiss  canton  and  a  petty  feudal  state. 


134  THE    MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

In  the  Swiss  canton  there  was  no  feudal  lord; 
the  people  governed  themselves.  It  was  not  a 
feudal  lordship,  but  a  little  republic  of  communes 
or  villages  of  the  primitive  Teutonic  type,  in 
which  the  civil  power  was  vested  in  the  commu- 
nity. If  therefore  in  a  Swiss  canton  the  civil 
power  took  to  itself  the  ecclesiastical  power 
hitherto  held  by  the  Pope,  that  power  vested  in 
the  people,  not,  as  in  other  countries,  in  the 
prince  or  king." 

The  political  troubles  of  the  Swiss  were  re- 
newed in  1520  and  still  more  in  1521,  by  the 
intrigues  of  the  Pope,  and  by  the  efforts  of 
Francis  I.,  king  of  France,  and  the  emperor 
Charles  V.,  to  secure  their  aid  in  the  wars 
which  these  rival  princes  waged  against  one 
another.  Francis  finally  succeeded,  in  a  Diet 
of  the  confederates  held  at  Lucerne,  on  the  third 
of  May,  1521,  in  concluding  a  treaty  of  alliance 
with  all  the  cantons  except  Zurich.  Zwingli 
was  now  active,  as  he  had  need  to  be,  to  prevent 
his  people  from  engaging  in  this  unseemly  strife. 
He  said  :  "  Next  to  my  concern  for  the  word  of 
God,  the  interests  of  the  Confederacy  lie  nearest 
my  heart.  For  the  longing  desire  of  my  heart, 
and  the  great  object  of  my  teaching,  has  been 
the   preservation  of  the   Confederacy,   that   it 


SHADOWS  AND  SORROWS.        135 

might  remain,  as  handed  down  to  us  from  our 
fathers,  true  to  itself,  and  free  from  service  un- 
der foreign  masters,  and  that  the  members  of  it 
might  live   together  in  peace  and  friendship." 

Zwingli  lifted  up  his  voice  energetically  against 
this  evil  of  foreign  service.  tl  Our  fathers,"  said 
he,  "conquered  their  enemies,  and  won  their 
freedom,  relyiog  on  no  other  arm  but  the  arm  of 
the  Almighty,  and  they  were  ready  at  all  times 
to  recognize  His  intervention  in  their  behalf." 
This  he  could  say  with  confidence,  for  the  Swiss, 
in  ancient  times  began  their  battles  with  pray- 
er, and  when  they  gained  a  victory,  they  fell 
on  their  knees,  and  thanked  God  for  His  help. 
The  preacher  then  pointed  out  the  dangers 
that  would  come  to  them  again  from  engaging 
in  foreign  service.  They  would  be  in  danger  of 
God's  judgments;  their  laws  would  be  trampled 
upon  ;  idleness  would  again  characterize  the  re- 
turned soldiers ;  selfishness  would  be  paramount, 
and  strife  among  brethren  would  be  sure  to  fol- 
low. In  consequence  of  these  wise  counsels 
Zurich  resolved  to  observe  a  strict  neutrality, 
and  to  adhere  to  the  treaty  of  perpetual  peace 
made  between  all  the  cantons  in  1516. 

Nevertheless  some  three  thousand  soldiers  en- 
listed under  the  influence  of  the  Pope,  professedly 


136  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

to  protect  trie  territory  of  the  church,  but  really 
to  fight  for  Charles  V.  When  the  troops  were 
well  on  their  way  to  Italy  the  secret  of  their 
destination  leaked  out,  and  an  express  was 
sent  to  recall  them,  but  on  condition  that  they 
were  not  to  be  employed  against  the  French, 
they  were  allowed  to  proceed.  The  united 
forces  of  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor  triumphed 
over  those  of  France ;  and  the  Swiss  returned 
without  either  laurels  or  booty.  The  greatest 
dissatisfaction  now  was  cherished  by  the  other 
cantons  towards  Zurich  ;  and  Zwingli,  who  had 
strenuously  resisted  the  whole  movement,  was 
blamed  most  of  all.  He  was  never  forgiven  by 
the  other  cantons,  and  their  enmity  was  not  sa- 
tiated even  with  his  death. 

Zwingli  had  enfeebled  his  health  by  over- 
work, and  made  a  journey  eastward  to  the  cele- 
brated baths  of  Pfaffers,  about  this  time,  that  he 
might  rest  and  receive  the  benefit  of  the  water 
of  the  hot  springs.  The  place  was  not  calcu- 
lated to  cheer  the  spirit  of  the  reformer,  what- 
ever the  water  might  do  for  his  health.  The  baths 
were  situated  in  the  frightful  gorge  formed 
by  the  impetuous  torrent  of  the  Tamina. 
Daniel,  the  hermit,  named  it  the  "  infernal 
gulf;"  and  well  he  might,  for  the  limestone  cliffs 


SHADOWS  AND  SORROWS.        137 

are  from  500  to  800  feet  in  height,  while  the  gorge 
is  only  from  30  to  50  feet  wide,  through  which 
rushes  the  roaring  waters  of  the  river.  Itis  said 
that  the  bath-house,  now  located  in  the  gorge,  en- 
joys sunshine  in  the  height  of  summer  from  10 
till  4  o'clock,  but  in  the  building  where  Zwingli 
lodged  it  was  necessary  to  burn  torches  at  midday. 
This  was  the  ancient  seat  of  a  monastery,  and 
many  were  the  stories  told  of  fearful  spectres 
which  might  be  seen  there  gliding  to  and  fro 
amidst  the  darkness.  This  gloom  is  mentioned  by 
many  writers  as  a  preparation  of  Zwingli  for 
coming  trouble. 

Trouble  soon  came  in  the  form  of  news 
that  the  plague  had  broken  out  in  Zurich. 
Zwingli  hastened  to  return  that  he  might  per- 
form a  pastor's  part  in  this  trying  emergency. 
The  "  Great  Death/'  as  it  was  called,  swept  on 
from  the  east  over  the  deep  chasm  of  Tamina, 
where  Zwingli  was,  and,  as  a  great  shadow  of 
destruction,  fell  upon  nearly  all  the  towns  and 
villages  of  Switzerland,  late  in  the  summer  of 
1519.  During  the  time  of  its  frightful  ravages 
it  swept  away  no  fewer  than  2,500  souls  in 
Zurich.  After  sending  away  a  number  of  young 
men  who  were  students  in  his  house,  among 
whom  was  his  brother  Andrew,  Zwingli  began 


138  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY.  ' 

his  faithful  work  among  the  sick  and  dying  of 
his  flock.  As  he  went  forward  with  his  du- 
ties many  watched  him  with  admiration,  but 
with  solicitude  as  well,  for  they  knew  not  what 
moment  the  fell  destroyer  might  lay  him 
low. 

A  friend  in  Basel,  Conrad  Brunner,  wrote : 
"I  rejoice  greatly  that  thou  standest  untouched 
and  unharmed  by  the  arrows  of  death  which  are 
flying  around.  But  my  joy  will  not  be  free  of 
anxiety  so  long  as  thou  daily  exposest  thyself  to 
great  peril  by  visiting  the  sick  of  the  plague. 
Forget  not,  while  bringing  consolation  to  others, 
to  take  care  of  thine  own  life."  With  heroic 
courage  he  visited  the  sick  and  the  dying  with- 
out intermission,  and  supplied  them  with  the 
rich  consolations  of  the  Gospel.  In  his  sermons 
he  raised  the  sinking  hearts  of  his  terrified  con- 
gregation with  the  promises  of  the  word  of  life, 
and  pointed  them  to  Christ,  who  quickens  the 
weary  and  heavy  ladened.  Many  among  his 
people  also  trembled  for  the  life  of  their  faithful 
pastor,  as  they  saw  him  moving  about  amidst 
the  thickly-flying  darts  of  death,  himself  bear- 
ing around  the  cup  of  salvation. 

The  anxiety  of  friends  was  but  too  well 
founded,  for  at  the  end  of  September  he  was 


SHADOWS  AND  SORROWS.        139 

also  smitten  with  the  pestilence.  The  grief  of 
his  people  was  great  when  they  realized  that 
their  pastor  was  stretched  upon  a  bed  of  sick- 
ness, perhaps  of  death.  Friends  of  evangelic 
truth  at  a  distance  were  also  deeply  moved  at 
the  tidings.  Dr.  Hedio  wrote  to  him  :  "  We 
were  deeply  afflicted  when  we  heard  that  this 
murderous  disease  had  seized  you  also,  for  who 
would  not  grieve  if  the  deliverer  of  his  country, 
if  the  trumpet  of  the  Gospel,  if  the  courageous 
herald  of  the  truth  should  be  stricken  down  in 
the  prime  of  life,  high  in  hope,  and  in  the 
midst  of  his  usefulness."  The  feelings  of  his 
own  soul  during  his  sickness  the  Reformer 
poured  forth  in  the  following  hymn,  of  which  we 
furnish  a  new  version  as  nearly  as  possible  in  the 
meters  and  language  of  the  original  German : 

Lord,  hear  my  anxious  pleading, 
0,  help  me  in  this  strait; 
Upon  my  door  is  knocking, 
The  doleful  hand  of  death. 
Thou,  Lord,  for  him  in  conflict 
The  might  of  mercy  hast ; 
Stay,  Christ,  0  !  stay  beside  me, 
And  help  me  to  the  last. 

My  Father,  if  it  be  Thy  will, 
O  grant  me  saving  grace, 
And  make  this  cup  pass  from  me, 
Nor  hide  me  from  Thy  face. 


140  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

Send  comfort  to  my  spirit, 
E'en  while  my  pains  increase ; 
This  is  my  hour  of  anguish, 
From  tossings  no  release. 

Thou  art,  0  Lord,  my  Maker, 
And  I  Thy  creature  am, 
As  clay  in  hand  of  potter 
I'm  fashioned  by  Thy  hand. 
At  length  in  holy  stillness 
My  soul  with  Thee  shall  rest, 
Thy  will  shall  be  my  pleasure 
Be  it  in  life  or  death. 


The  disease  gained  ground.  His  friends  in 
deep  affliction  beheld  the  man  on  whom  the 
hopes  of  Switzerland  and  the  church  reposed, 
ready  to  be  swallowed  up  by  the  grave.  His 
bodily  powers  and  natural  faculties  were  for- 
saking; him.  His  heart  was  smitten  with  dis- 
may,  yet  he  found  strength  sufficient  left  him  to 
turn  to  God  and  to  cry : 


Hear,  0  my  God,  'tis  Thee  I  seek, 

My  malady  increases; 

The  sharpness  of  my  pain  exceeds, 

My  heart  is  pierced  with  grieving. 

To  Thee,  my  Comforter,  I  flee, 

Haste,  Lord,  to  help  and  strengthen  me, 

Bring  comfort,  blessed  Jesus. 


SHADOWS  AND  SORROWS.        141 

Yes,  Saviour,  from  Thy  presence  sweet 
Comes  help  to  them  that  trust  Thee  ; 
In  faith  they  clasp  Thy  pierced  feet 
And  joyful  rest  upon  Thee  ; 
On  Thee,  for  aye,  their  hope  is  set, 
Their  treasure  Thou,  they  ne'er  forget 
When  earthly  good  doth  perish. 

Surely  I  see  with  griping  hand 

The  evil  One  approaching, 

And  him,  though  weak,  I  must  withstand, 

He  shall  not  thus  o'erthrow  me. 

For  while  my  faith  is  strong  and  fast 

Thou,  Lord,  wilt  make  my  courage  last, 

By  fear  of  hell  unshaken. 

Great  was  the  consternation  that  prevailed 
throughout  the  city.  The  friends  of  the  papacy- 
thought  that  it  would  be  dreadful  if  he  were 
not  reconciled  with  Eome,  but  no  one  seems  to 
have  disturbed  him  with  this  subject.  The  be- 
lievers cried  to  God  night  and  day,  earnestly  en- 
treating that  He  would  restore  their  faithful 
pastor.  The  alarm  had  spread  from  Zurich  to 
the  mountains  of  Toggenburg.  Even  there  the 
plague  had  been  ravaging.  Seven  or  eight  per- 
sons had  fallen  a  prey  to  it  in  Wildhaus,  one  of 
them  a  servant  of  Zwingli's  brother  Nicholas. 
No  tidings  were  received  from  the  P^eformer. 
His  brother  Andrew  wrote :  "  Let  me   know 


142  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

what  is  thy  state,  my  beloved  brother.  The 
Abbot  and  all  our  brothers  salute  thee."  It 
would  seem  that  Zwingli's  parents  were  already 
dead,  since  they  are  not  mentioned  here.  But 
that  glimmering  spark  of  life,  which  had  been 
left  unquenched,  began  now  to  burn  more 
brightly.  Though  laboring  still  under  great 
bodily  weakness  his  soul  was  filled  with  a 
deep  impression  that  God  had  called  him  to  re- 
place the  candle  of  his  word  on  the  deserted 
candlestick  of  his  church.  The  plague  had  re- 
linquished its  victim.  With  strong  emotion 
Zwingli  now  exclaimed : 

Restored,  through  Thy  great  mercy, 

My  God,  I'm  well  again  ; 

My  joyful  lips  do  praise  Thee, 

I  sing  in  gladsome  strain. 

Since  Thou  hast  been  my  Helper, 

And  life  Thou  didst  restore, 

My  soul  shall  ever  bless  Thee 

And,  daily,  more  and  more. 

Had  death  securely  bound  me, 
I  would  from  earth  be  free, 
And  even  now  be  standing, 
My  blessed  Lord,  by  Thee. 
Now  must  I  bide  my  summons 
And  wait  for  death  again, 
Prepared  for  work  or  suffering, 
Prepared  for  greater  pain. 


SHADOWS   AND   SORROWS. 


143 


Yet,  since  Thou  thus  hast  willed  it, 
I  joyful  journey  on, 
With  true  and  willing  spirit, 
Till  pilgrimage  is  done. 
Through  pain  and  strife  I'm  pressing, 
To  Thee,  0  Lord,  I  come- 
To  yonder  blissful  haven, 
To  my  eternal  home. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

BEAVE  EFFORTS  FOR  REFORM. 

The  Cathedral  Church  of  Zurich,  known  by 
the  name  of '  the  Minster/  was  a  very  ancient  and 
well-endowed  institution.  When  Zwinedi  be- 
came  its  pastor,  in  1519,  its  council  consisted  of 
twenty-four  canons,  to  whom  were  added  a 
number  of  chaplains.  All  these  in  former  times 
lived  upon  the  revenues  of  the  foundation,  but 
performed  no  other  service  than  to  sing  in  the 
choir  during  canonical  hours.  The  whole  labor 
of  preaching  and  of  the  care  of  souls  was  left  to 
the  one  pastor,  called  people's  priest,  and  his 
two  assistants.  The  burden  of  this  great  charge 
lay  upon  Zwingli,  and  earnestly  did  he  labor  to 
fulfil  his  duty. 

When  the  Reformer  arose  from  his  sick  bed, 
snatched  as  it  were  from  the  very  jaws  of 
death,  he  manifested  even  greater  zeal  than  be- 
fore. Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  his  ene- 
mies continued  on  his  track,  he  won  the  afiec- 
144 


BRAVE   EFFORTS   FOR   REFORM.  145 

tions  of  the  people  to  such  a  degree  that  in  1521 
he  was  elected  to  canonship  by  the  chapter. 
He  might  now,  agreeably  to  the  old  custom, 
have  retired  from  active  life  and  passed  the  re- 
mainder of  his  days  in  dignified  leisure ;  but  he 
retained  his  pastorship,  and  continued  to  per- 
form all  its  duties,  as  before,  though  his  seat  in 
the  council  gave  him  a  voice  and  vote  in  its  de- 
liberations, and  more  freedom  in  his  work. 

For  a  time,  in  connection  with  his  other 
duties,  he  pursued  the  study  of  the  Hebrew 
language,  under  an  able  teacher,  and  as  before 
in  the  case  of  the  Greek,  he  soon  made  rapid 
progress.  He  was  thus  enabled  to  read  the 
Old  Testament  in  the  original.  A  deeper  seri- 
ousness now  manifested  itself  in  the  spirit  of  the 
Reformer,  due  no  doubt  to  his  late  sickness,  but 
more  especially  to  the  need  that  he  discerned 
for  reformation  in  the  church.  He  was  hardly 
yet  fully  recovered,  for  in  November  he  wrote  : 
"  The  sickness  has  enfeebled  my  memory  and 
prostrated  my  spirits.  I  often  in  preaching 
loose  the  thread  of  my  discourse.  My  whole 
frame  is  oppressed  with  languor,  and  I  am  little 
better  than  a  dead  man."  But  he  soon  rose  to 
strength  again,  and  though  '  faint  was  still  pur- 
suing.' 

10 


146  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

There  were  three  monasteries  in  Zurich,  and 
as  Zwingli,  and  those  who  stood  with  him  af- 
firmed that  the  pure  word  of  God  should  only 
be  proclaimed  to  the  people,  the  monks  in  these 
monasteries  fearing  that  their  calling  might  be 
overthrown,  petitioned  the  council  to  forbid  any- 
one to  preach  against  their  customs,  on  the 
ground  that  it  would  disturb  the  community. 
The  council  granted  their  petition,  and  a  violent 
contest  followed  in  the  pulpits  between  the  Re- 
formers and  the  monks.  The  council  referred 
the  matter  to  a  committee,  and  after  a  stormy  de- 
bate the  presiding  officer  exhorted  them  not  to 
preach  anything  that  might  cause  disturbance. 

Zwingli  solemnly  declared :  "  I  cannot  ac- 
cept this  command.  I  will  preach  the  Gos- 
pel free  and  without  limitation,  as  was  for- 
merly resolved  upon.  I  am  bishop  and  par- 
son of  Zurich.  To  me  the  care  of  souls  is  en- 
trusted. I,  not  the  monks,  have  taken  the 
oath.  They  must  yield  and  not  I.  If  they 
preach  lies  I  will  come  up  to  the  very  pulpit  of 
their  cloisters  and  contradict  them.  I,  for  my 
part,  if  I  preach  anything  contrary  to  the  Holy 
Gospel  am  willing  to  subject  myself  to  the  cen- 
sure of  the  chapter,  nay,  of  every  citizen,  and 
let  myself  be  punished  for  it."    This  bold  stand 


BRAVE   EFFORTS  FOR  REFORM.  147 

decided  the  council,  and  they  granted  to  Zwingli 
and  his  friends  permission  to  preach  in  the  chapels 
of  the  convents.  Truth  had  thus  again  conquered. 
Soon  after  this  an  event  occurred  which  gave 
the  enemies  of  reform  an  opportunity  to  attack 
Zwingli.  Early  in  1522  he  stated  in  a  sermon 
that  feasts  appointed  by  the  church,  in  which 
certain  meats  were  forbidden  to  be  eaten  at  cer- 
tain times,  a  release  from  which  could  only  be 
obtained  by  donations  to  the  church,  had  no 
foundation  in  the  word  of  God,  but  were  di- 
rectly contrary  to  it.  He  said  :  "  Many  think 
that  to  eat  flesh  is  improper,  nay  a  sin,  although 
God  has  nowhere  forbidden  it,  but  to  sell  human 
flesh  in  slaughter  and  carnage  they  hold  to  be 
no  sin  at  all."  Reports  of  this  sermon  were 
carried  by  the  monks  to  the  Bishop  of  Con- 
stance, who  sent  a  delegation  to  Zurich  on  April 
7th,  1522,  who  set  themselves  to  gain  a  secret 
meeting  of  the  authorities  and  have  Zwingli 
condemned.  Though  they  tried  to  prevent  it, 
the  council  decided  that  the  pastor  should  be 
present  at  the  conference.  The  bishop's  am- 
bassadors were  very  smooth  and  polite  in 
speech,  while  they  hinted  that  contentious  and 
dangerous  men  taught  that  human  institutions 
and  rites  are  no  more  to  be  regarded,  and  this 


148  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY* 

would  undermine  the  church.  Zwingli  replied 
that  Zurich  was  more  peaceable  than  any  other 
town  in  the  confederacy.  He  added  :  "  For  my 
part,  one  may  fast  the  whole  year,  if  he  have  not 
enough  in  the  forty  days ;  only  I  hold  that 
fasts  should  not  be  imposed  on  any  one  by  the 
threat  of  excommunication,  but  that  every  one 
should  be  left  to  use  his  own  liberty  in  the  mat- 
ter." The  mission  returned,  having  entirely 
failed  in  its  object. 

On  May  second  the  bishop  sent  to  all  the 
clergy  a  warning  against  the  new  views,  with- 
out naming  Zwingli,  but  covertly  striking  at 
him.  The  Reformer  availed  himself  of  a  pamph- 
let published  at  Bern  and  directed  against  the 
bishop,  which  he  circulated  through  the  com- 
munity. On  May  24th  the  bishop  made  a  third 
attack  by  a  letter  prepared  by  his  vicar  Fabel, 
and  directed  to  the  council  at  Zurich  warning 
them  against  the  poison  of  new  teachers.  Zwin- 
gli answered  this  in  a  pamphlet  of  his  own,  en- 
titled u  The  Beginning  and  the  End,"  so  named 
because  he  wished  it  to  be  final  on  the  subject 
on  his  part.  He  spoke  respectfully  of  the 
bishop,  but  ascribed  his  course  to  evil  advisers, 
whom  he  advises  him  to  dismiss,  and,  continu- 
ing, answers  the  letter  sentence  by  sentence. 


BRAVE   EFFORTS   FOR   REFORM.  149 

Matters  now  began  to  assume  a  serious  as- 
pect. A  Diet  was  assembled  at  Lucerne  in  May, 
at  the  instance  of  the  bishop,  for  the  purpose  of 
applying  stringent  measures.  A  complaint  was 
at  once  lodged  against  the  adherents  of  the  new 
doctrine  and  the  preacher  of  Zurich.  A  motion 
was  immediately  passed  :  "  In  the  name  of  the 
confederacy  to  instruct  the  priests,  whose  sermons 
produce  disunion  and  disturbance  among  the 
people,  to  desist  from  such  preaching."  Sorely  as 
this  action  annoyed  Zwingli  he  did  not  allow  him- 
self to  be  discouraged  by  it,  or  to  relax  his  zeal  for 
the  cause  of  Christ.  He  heard  in  the  brewing  storm 
a  call  to  uphold  the  sacred  banner  of  the  truth. 

Accordingly  he  called  together  at  Einsiedeln 
a  number  of  the  evangelical  clergy  in  the  month 
of  June,  1522,  and  laid  before  them  two  peti- 
tions for  their  signatures,  one  in  German  to  the 
Diet,  the  other  in  Latin  to  the  Bishop  of  Con- 
stance. The  petitions  were  different  in  form, 
but  in  substance  the  same,  and  prayed  :  u  That 
the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  might  not  be  for- 
bidden, and  that  it  might  be  permitted  to  the 
priests  to  marry."  w  Little  as  was  the  influ- 
ence," says  Christoffel,  u  which  this  petition  ex- 
erted on  those  to  whom  it  was  addressed,  it  still 
produced  great  effects  among  the  lower  orders  of 


150  THE   MOUNTAIN  BOY. 

clergy  and  the  people.  It  became  a  banner 
around  which  the  friends  of  divine  truth  and  of 
the  rights  of  conscience  leagued  in  one  covenant, 
that  disappointed  all  the  schemes  of  combined 
iniquity.  On  the  fifteenth  of  August  of  this 
year  the  chapter  of  the  canton  of  Zurich  which 
comprised  the  clergy  from  the  sources  of  the 
Linth  to  the  junction  of  the  Limmat  with  the 
Beuss,  met  and  made  the  great  spiritual  move- 
ment of  the  times  a  chief  topic  of  debate.  By 
Zwingli's  influence  this  assembly  unanimously 
adopted  the  following  resolution:  "  To  preach 
nothing  but  what  is  contained  in  the  Word  of 
God."  From  this  time  on  his  watchword  was  : 
"  We  must  obey  God  rather  than  man." 

The  resolution  passed  at  Einsiedeln  relating  to 
the  marriage  of  the  priests,  and  which  was  for- 
warded with  the  petition  to  the  bishop  and  the 
Diet,  prepares  the  way  to  speak  of  Zwingli's 
marriage.  This  event  has  a  great  deal  of  ro- 
mance surrounding  it,  as  well  as  danger.  It  is 
generally  dated  on  April  12,  1524,  though  sup- 
posed by  some  to  have  taken  place  at  an  earlier 
period,  but  not  published  on  account  of  the 
troublous  nature  of  the  times,  which  rendered 
the  marriage  of  a  priest  a  cause  of  stumbling 
and  offence  to  many. 


BRAVE  EFFORTS  FOR  REFORM.     151 

Zwingli  became  acquainted  with  Anna  Rein- 
hardt  through  his  interest  in  her  son,  Gerold 
Meyer,  who  came  to  his  study  in  Zurich  upon 
some  errand  during  1521.  Zwingli  appears  to 
have  formed  a  strong  attachment  to  this  youth, 
and  by  a  sort  of  natural  consequence  became  at- 
tracted to  the  excellent  qualities  of  the  mother. 
She  had  married  young,  above  her  station  in 
life,  to  John  Meyer  von  Knonau,  a  young  no- 
bleman in  the  neighborhood  of  Zurich,  where 
his  father's  castle  was  situated.  The  elder 
Meyer  was  highly  incensed  when  he  heard  of 
his  son's  marriage  to  Anna,  and  disinherited 
him.  After  a  few  years  of  wedded  life  Anna's 
husband  was  removed  from  her  by  death. 
Thus  in  the  year  1513  she  was  left  a  widow 
with  the  care  of  three  children,  one  son  and  two 
daughters.  She  thought  only  of  the  education 
of  her  children,  for  which  purpose  no  means 
were  at  hand. 

The  grandfather  was  inexorable,  seeming  to 
have  no  interest  whatever  in  his  destitute  grand- 
children, until  one  day  he  happened  to  be  near 
the  fish-market  in  Zurich,  when  he  saw  little 
Gerold  at  play.  The  beauty  of  the  child  at- 
tracted his  attention,  and  he  inquired  whose 
boy  it  was.     Upon  being  told  that  it  was  his 


152  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

son's  he  was  moved  to  deep  feeling.  He 
brought  the  widow  and  her  children  to  his 
wealthy  home  and  rejoiced  in  their  companion- 
ship 

The  pastor  of  Zurich,  now  convinced  that  the 
Scriptures  nowhere  forbid  the  marriage  of 
Christian  ministers,  but  on  the  other  hand  en- 
courage this  ordinance  that  the  minister  may  be 
the  head  of  a  Christian  household,  sought  the 
hand  of  the  young  widow  and  they  were  joined 
in  marriage.  She  proved  to  be  in  every  way 
worthy  of  his  choice,  but  she  had  great  sorrows 
to  bear  in  after  time,  even  greater  than  those 
she  had  experienced  in  her  earlier  years. 

Their  family  consisted  of  four  children  :  The 
eldest  daughter,  Eegula  married  Zwingli's  suc- 
cessor, Ealph  Gwalter,  and  died  in  1565.  The 
youngest  daughter,  Anna,  died  early.  William, 
the  eldest  son,  died  in  1541,  while  a  student  of 
theology  at  Strassburg  ;  and  Ulric,  the  younger 
son,  became  afterward,  a  professor  of  theology 
at  Zurich.  With  him  the  male  line  of  the  He- 
former  became  extinct. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

DANGER  AND  DEFENCE. 

All  thoughtful  men  knew  that  a  grave  issue 
was  at  hand,  when  the  year  1523  dawned  upon 
the  reformation  in  Switzerland.  The  Diet 
which  was  composed  of  the  delegates  from  the 
various  cantons  opposed  to  the  reforms  intro- 
duced by  Zwingli  in  Zurich  had  met  in  Lucerne 
the  May  previous,  and  sent  forth  an  ominous 
warning,  which  was  followed  by  threat  after 
threat,  from  the  same  quarter.  Even  as  dark 
clouds  roll  athwart  the  sky,  and  gleams  of  light- 
ning flash  out  from  the  storm-center,  while  as 
yet  it  is  far  distant  from  the  spectator ;  so 
Zwingli  saw  the  front  of  the  coming  tempest, 
and  knew  that  every  shaft  of  death  was  pointed 
at  his  heart.  But  while  he  knew  all  this,  only 
too  well,  his  conscience  would  not  suffer  him  to 
relax  his  efforts  for  needed  reformation. 

In  the  month  of  August  previous,  all  the 
pastors  in  Zurich  had  given  up  their  pensions. 

153 


154:  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

During  the  same  month  a  convention  had  been 
held  at  Kapperschwyl,  in  which  38  parishes 
were  represented,  and  all  these  proposed  to 
stand  together  in  defence  of  the  truth.  These 
pastors  resolved  unanimously  to  preach  only 
what  they  could  prove  by  the  word  of  God. 
One  of  them,  pastor  Weiss,  was  soon  afterward 
imprisoned  at  Constance,  for  rejecting  the  invo- 
cation of  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  for  refusing 
longer  to  obey  the  rule  of  celibacy.  He  escaped 
with  his  life,  but  other  pious  men  were  less 
favored. 

There  was  a  strong  desire  on  the  part  of 
many  godly  persons,  expressed  at  this  time,  for 
the  removal  of  all  images  from  their  churches. 
Zwingli  was  favorable  to  this  change,  but  he 
exhorted  to  patience,  and  delay,  until  there  was 
a  stronger  public  sentiment  to  sustain  the  move- 
ment. But  a  citizen  of  Stadelhofen,  named 
Hottinger,  rebuked  the  miller  of  that  place  for 
keeping  a  cross  with  the  image  of  the  Saviour 
upon  it  beside  the  highway,  where  many  per- 
sons paid  it  reverence.  The  miller  replied  :  "  If 
you  are  empowered  to  remove  it,  I  leave  you  to 
do  so."  Hottinger  construed  this  as  permission; 
and  proceeded,  with  others,  to  take  the  image 
down.     Great  excitement  followed;  the  parti- 


DANGER  AND  DEFENCE.  155 

sans  of  Rome  clamored  for  his  blood,  and  the 
men  were  arrested.  Zwingli  took  the  ground 
that  they  had  not  committed  sin  against  (rod  by 
this  act.  But  that  they  should  be  justly  pun- 
ished for  having  resorted  to  violence  without 
the  sanction  of  the  magistrate.  Hottinger  was 
set  at  liberty,  but  he  was  afterward  arrested  at 
Baden,  brought  before  the  Diet  in  Lucerne  in 
March  1524,  condemned  to  death,  and  beheaded. 
His  last  words  were  :  "  Into  Thy  hands  I  com- 
mend my  soul,  0 !  my  Lord  and  Eedeemer, 
Jesus  Christ !  Have  mercy  on  me  and  receive 
me  unto  Thyself."  Thus  died  Nicholas  Hot- 
tinger, the  first  martyr  of  the  Reformed  Church. 
The  feeling  in  favor  of  abolishing  the  images 
kept  increasing  however,  and  one  day  a  pastor 
of  St.  Peter's  Church  in  Zurich  observing  a 
number  of  poor  people  before  the  church  door 
said  to  one  of  his  colleagues  :  "  I  should  like  to 
strip  those  wooden  idols,  and  clothe  those  poor 
members  of  Jesus  Christ/'  A  few  days  after,  at 
three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  saints  and  their 
fine  trappings  were  missing.  The  council  sent 
the  pastor  to  prison,  although  he  protested  that  he 
had  no  hand  in  removing  them.  Threats  were 
now  multiplied  on  the  part  of  the  papal  cantons 
against  Zurich,  and  fierce  controversies  followed. 


156  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

The  magistrates  undecided  as  to  the  course 
they  ought  to  pursue,  sent  word  to  the  bishops 
of  Constance,  Basel  and  Coira,  to  despatch  a 
joint  commission  to  Zurich.  But  it  was  the 
policy  of  these  bishops  to  keep  silent  for  the 
present,  and  the  deputies  did  not  appear.  The 
council  assembled,  and  canon  Hoffman  stepped 
forward  to  defend  the  Pope,  and  denied  that  the 
body  had  power  to  take  action  in  the  case. 
Zwingli  claimed  that  the  council  could  regulate 
matters  of  worship  within  its  territory,  and 
said :  "  Hong  and  Kussnacht,  two  villages  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Zurich,  are  more  of  a  church 
than  all  the  bishops  and  popes  put  together." 
Thus,  says  Daubigne,  "  did  Zwingli  assert  the 
rights  of  Christians  in  general,  whom  Eome  had 
stript  of  their  inheritance.  Here  we  see  the 
beginnings  of  the  Presbyterian  system.  He 
was  engaged  in  delivering  Zurich  from  the  juris- 
diction of  the  bishops  of  Constance— he  was 
likewise  detaching  it  from  the  hierarchy  of 
Eome;  and  on  this  thought  of  the  flock,  and 
the  assembly  of  believers,  he  was  laying  the 
foundation  of  a  new  church  order  to  which  other 
countries  would  afterwards  adhere." 

At  this  time  also  the  question  of  the  mass 
was   violently   agitated.     Zwingli    had  taught 


DANGER  AND   DEFENCE.  157 

from  the  pulpit  that  the  customs  of  the  mass 
were  a  departure  from  the  teachings  of  Scripture, 
and  from  the  practice  of  the  early  church.  But 
he  counselled  against  hasty  and  unauthorized 
action  in  the  premises.  He  therefore  requested 
that  a  conference  be  called  at  Zurich  for  the 
free  discussion  of  the  questions  then  agitating 
the  church.  Accordingly  the  meeting  was 
called  for  January  28th,  1523,  for  which  the 
Reformer  prepared  his  celebrated  67  theses. 
They  were  ably  formulated,  and  even  yet  stand 
as  the  bulwarks  of  protestantism.  They  teach 
that :  "  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only  way  of  salvation 
for  all  who  have  been,  are,  or  shall  be."  Chris- 
tians are  all  the  brethren  of  Christ,  and  they 
have  no  "  fathers  ''  upon  earth.  No  compul- 
sion in  cases  of  conscience  should  be  used,  unless 
the  seditious  disturb  the  peace  of  others. 
Christ  offered  Himself  upon  the  cross  for  our 
sins,  therefore  the  mass,  or  Lord's  Supper,  is  not  a 
sacrifice,  but  a  commemoration  of  a  sacrifice,  and 
a  seal  of  the  redemption  He  has  procured  for  us. 
On  the  26th  of  October  another  conference 
was  held  in  Zurich,  at  which  over  nine  hundred 
people  were  present.  The  discussions  of  this 
body  hastened  the  cause  of  reform,  but  the  rash- 
ness of  a  few  misguided  men  who,  afterwards, 


158  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

would  proceed,  with  great  violence,  was  wisely 
restrained,  or  else  a  religious  war  would  have 
been,  at  once,  inaugurated.  As  it  was,  the  ima- 
ges were  generally  removed  from  the  churches  in 
Zurich,  in  some  cases  it  may  be,  with  undue  vio- 
lence. 

We  who  sit  in  safety  in  our  free  churches, 
are  wont  to  criticise  every  extravagance  which 
marked  the  work  of  the  reformation.  But  we 
should  ever  remember  that  in  all  movements  of 
this  kind,  fanatics  will  arise,  who,  with  other  in- 
discreet persons,  will  often  bring  reproach  upon 
the  cause  which  they  champion,  but  misrepresent 
in  spirit.  Zwingli  had  ever  to  contend  with  this 
difficulty  even  as  Luther  did  in  Germany.  He 
did  not,  at  once,  discard  the  mass  for  the  time 
was  not  ripe  for  it ;  but  he  modified  its  celebra- 
tion August  1523,  and  finally  substituted  the 
Lord's  Supper  for  it  in  1525. 

The  Anabaptists  as  they  were  called,  because 
they  rebaptized  those  who  had  been  baptized 
in  infancy,  arose  during  the  time  of  Zwingli  and 
brought  sore  afflictions  upon  themselves  and 
others.  At  first  they  baptized  by  sprinkling, 
but  subsequently  immersed  the  candidates  in  the 
rivers.  In  connection  with  this  they  taught 
that  warfare  should   be  at   once   begun ;    and 


DANGER  AND   DEFENCE.  159 

many  pretended  to  have  supernatural  visions, 
and  others  affirmed  that  they  were  inspired  with 
the  Holy  Ghost.  Great  extravagances  were 
practiced,  which  in  some  cases  resulted  in  the 
loss  of  life;  as  when  in  Thuringia  one  fanatic  told 
another  that  he  must  behead  him,  for  the  Lord 
had  commanded  it ;  the  second  obeyed  and  cut 
off  the  head  of  the  one  making  the  proposal, 
with  a  sword. 

Zwingli  greatly  deplored  all  fanaticism,  coun- 
selled against  it,  and  used  moderation  with  his 
firmness  in  removing  abuses.  But  the  papal 
cantons  charged  every  thing  of  this  kind  to  his 
account,  and  nursed  their  wrath  against  him, 
and  only  waited  their  opportunity  to  cut  him 
off.  As  they  could  not  attack  him  directly  in 
his  stronghold  they  fell  upon  his  friends,  in  the 
surrounding  districts,  and  hastened  to  persecute 
them.  Pastor  Oechslin,  Zwingli's  friend  when 
at  Ensiedeln,  who  was  now  settled  at  Burg,  be- 
came very  obnoxious  to  the  papists.  The  bishop 
tried  to  expel  him  from  his  charge,  but  his 
people  sustained  him  and  refused  to  let  him  go. 
At  last  the  magistrate  was  ordered  to  take  him 
by  force.  He  was  attacked  in  his  own  house, 
dragged  out  of  his  bed  at  midnight,  and  hurried 
off   to    prison.     The    whole    community    was 


160  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

aroused;  the  church  bell  was  rung  in  alarm, 
and  many  persons  spent  the  night  at  the  river's 
side,  over  which  the  prisoner  had  been  carried. 
As  a  result  of  this  outrage  some  misguided  per- 
sons were  led  to  take  vengeance ;  and  during 
the  agitation  a  band  of  disorderly  men  took 
possession  of  a  convent,  when,  by  some  means  it 
caught  fire,  and  was  burned  to  the  ground. 

The  Romanists  held  Diet  after  Diet,  and  at 
last  charged  four  men  named  Rutiman,  John 
Wirt  and  his  two  sons  with  the  crime.  The 
sons  of  Wirt  were  pastors,  and  the  offence  was 
never  proved  against  them,  and  they  constantly 
affirmed  their  innocence.  The  Romish  cantons 
called  upon  Zurich  to  give  them  up ;  and  at  last, 
in  an  evil  hour,  and  contrary  to  Zwingli's 
earnest  entreaty,  the  four  men  were  marched  off 
to  Baden.  A  farcical  trial  was  held,  and  three 
of  the  men  were  beheaded  amid  scoffs  and  jeers. 

The  fire  of  persecution  was  now  burning 
fiercely.  Threats  came  with  the  report  of 
every  Diet  that  was  held  by  the  Romanists. 
Affairs  were  indeed  desperate.  And  each  new 
volley  was  aimed  at  Zwingli,  who  was  acknow- 
ledged on  all  sides  to  be  the  leader  of  the  Re- 
formed. No  wonder  that  at  times  he  became 
discouraged.     He  said  that  he  was  hated  and 


DANGER   AND   DEFENCE.  161 

attacked  because  lie  had  preached  Christ,  and 
had  besought  the  church  to  abolish  the  abuses. 
All  the  cantons  made  a  league  against  Zurich 
except  Bern.  The  threats  of  war  were  about  to 
be  fulfilled ;  and  the  papal  cantons  fearing  that 
they  would  not  have  force  enough  to  cope  with 
the  brave  Zurichers,  made  an  alliance  with 
Austria  by  which  the  latter  would  furnish  troop 
and  horse,  if  needful. 

This  brought  on  the  u  First  war  of  Cappel." 
All  the  cantons  were  in  a  state  of  confusion,  and 
in  certain  parts  violence  was  used  against  the 
Reformed.  A  minister  of  the  Gospel  named 
James  Keyser,  while  on  his  way  to  a  preaching 
appointment,  was  seized  as  he  was  passing 
through  a  piece  of  forest,  hurried  off  to  the  can- 
ton of  Schwitz,  and  burned  at  the  stake.  This 
aroused  Zwingli.  The  Romanists  were  already 
recruiting  soldiers  at  Zug,  ostensibly  with  the 
object  of  attacking  Zurich.  Zwingli  said  it  was 
time  to  arise  for  defence.  Recruiting  began 
in  Zurich ;  and  when  the  men  were  ready  to 
issue  forth  in  defence  of  their  rights,  Zwingli 
brought  out  his  old  armor  that  he  had  worn 
during  the  campaigns  in  Italy,  and  went  forth 
with  them. 

The  little  army  of  Zurich  took  its  way  over 


162  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

the  Albis,  and  came  to  a  halt  at  Cappel,  within 
its  own  territory.  The  army  of  Zug  advanced 
to  meet  them  ;  and  when  it  seemed  certain  that 
blood  must  be  shed,  negotiations  were  under- 
taken, which  resulted  favorably ;  and  on  June 
26th,  1529,  while  the  two  armies  confronted 
each  other  a  treaty  was  formed,  and  war  was 
averted.  The  conditions  were  that  the  Gospel 
should  be  preached  freely  throughout  the  whole 
confederacy ;  that  all  alliances  against  it  should 
be  null  and  void ;  that  the  images  should  be  left 
to  the  choice  of  the  people ;  the  five  cantons 
were  to  pay  the  expense  of  the  war ;  and  Schwitz 
should  pay  a  thousand  florins  to  the  children  of 
the  martyred  Keyser. 

The  soldiers,  now  rejoiced,  and  fraternized, 
ate  and  drank  together,  and  said  we  are  all 
Swiss,  we  are  brethren.  Thankful  that  for  the 
present  at  least,  war  was  averted,  Zwingli  re- 
turned to  his  home ;  but  he  still  had  fears  that 
at  some  future  time  when  they  should  be  better 
prepared  the  papal  cantons  would  renew  the 
attack;  and  his  fears  were  to  be  sadly  realized. 

During  the  time  that  Zwingli  was  waiting  for 
the  negotiations  to  cease,  which  were  to  avert 
war  for  the  time,  he  composed  the  following 
hymn,  setting  it  to  music  ;  and  in  this  form  it 


DANGER  AND   DEFENCE.  163 

was  often  sung  by  the  Swiss.  We  furnish  the 
free  paraphrase  of  another  hand,  in  which 
form  it  could  very  well  be  sung  in  English : — 

Do  Thou  direct  Thy  chariot  Lord, 

And  guide  us  at  Thy  will ; 
Without  Thy  aid  our  strength  is  vain 

And  useless  all  our  skill. 
Look  down  upon  Thy  saints  below 
When  prostrate  laid  beneath  the  foe. 

Beloved  Pastor,  who  hast  saved 

Our  souls  from  death  and  sin : 
Uplift  Thy  voice,  awake  Thy  sheep  ; 

That  slumbering  lie  within 
Thy  fold  ;  and  curb,  with  Thy  right  hand, 
The  rage  of  Satan's  furious  band. 

Send  down  Thy  peace  and  banish  strife, 

Let  bitterness  depart ; 
Revive  the  spirit  of  Thy  grace 

In  each  true  Christian's  heart ; 
Then  shall  Thy  church  forever  sing 
The  praises  of  her  heavenly  King. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

MEETING  WITH   LUTHEB. 

While  peace  temporarily  spread  her  mantle 
over  Switzerland,  and  the  Reformed  religion 
was  unmolested  at  Zurich,  its  central  seat, 
Zwingli  was  invited  to  meet  with  the  great  Re- 
former of  Saxony,  Martin  Luther,  for  a  compa- 
rison of  their  views  respecting  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per. Zwingli,  anxious  that  every  difference 
between  the  Reformers  might  be  removed,  ac- 
cepted willingly  the  invitation  of  Philip,  land- 
grave of  Hesse,  to  meet  at  his  castle  at  Marburg 
for  a  friendly  conference.  The  council  of  Zurich 
discouraged  Zwingli  from  attempting  the  jour- 
ney, for  fear  that  he  would  be  slain ;  but  he 
persevered  in  his  resolution,  and  set  out  unat- 
tended for  Basel,  where  he  met  his  friend  CEco- 
lampadius,  with  whom  he  went  on  to  Marburg. 

Luther  seems  to  have  consented  rather  reluc- 
tantly to  the  invitation,  having  doubts  as  to  the 
issue  of  the  conference.  Myconius  says  that 
164 


MEETING   WITH   LUTHER.  165 

Zwingli  and  QEcolampadius  misunderstood  Luther 
from  the  beginning  in  presupposing  that  he  held 
the  gross  view,  that  we  eat  the  body  of  Christ 
j  ust  as  we  eat  common  food,  a  view  which  Lu- 
ther himself  repudiated ;  but  on  the  other  hand 
Luther  was  so  bitterly  opposed  to  both  of  them, 
because  he  supposed  that  they  recognized  in  the 
sacrament  nothing  but  empty  signs,  without  the 
real  presence  of  Christ.  There  is  much  truth  in 
this  statement,  no  doubt ;  and  their  differences 
were  only  those  that  earnest  men,  situated  as 
they  were,  might  reasonably  be  expected  to  en- 
tertain. 

The  conference  began  on  October  2d,  1529, 
in  the  castle,  which  stands  on  a  commanding 
height  overlooking  Marburg.  Many  interested 
friends  were  present,  but  the  discussion  was 
mainly  conducted  by  Zwingli  and  (Ecolampadius 
on  one  side,  and  Luther  with  Melanchthon  on 
the  other.  When  they  met  in  the  common  hall 
Luther  took  a  piece  of  chalk  and  wrote  upon  the 
table  cloth  the  words,  in  Latin :  "  This  is  my 
body."  Zwingli  maintained  that  the  meaning  of 
that  Scripture  was  :  "  This  signifies  my  body." 
The  discussion  turned  on  the  meaning  of  the 
little  word  "  is,"  and  neither  one  seemed  able  to 
bring  the  other  over  to  his  view.    Luther  kept 


166  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

repeating  the  words,  u  This  is  my  body,"  and 
Zvvingli  kept  asking  him  if  he  meant  that  Christ's 
body  and  blood  were  locally  there,  in  the  bread 
and  wine.  The  latter  claimed  that  Christ  spoke 
in  the  same  sense  that  He  used  in  the  words  :  °  I 
am  the  vine ;"  that  there  is  a  figure  of  speech  in  the 
passage,  as  in  the  expressions  :  "  John  is  Elias," 
"  The  rock  was  Christ."  Luther  admitted  that 
there  are  figurative  expressions  in  the  Bible  like 
those  mentioned,  but  he  insisted  that  the  words, 
11  This  is  my  body,"  were  to  be  received  literally. 

There  was  but  little  hope  of  an  entire  agree- 
ment between  the  reformers,  for  they  differed, 
just  where  a  difference  has  ever  since  existed 
between  good  men,  in  their  views  of  the  Lord's 
Sapper.  Zwingli  brought  forward  the  words  of 
our  Saviour  in  John  6th,  and  63 :  "The  flesh  pro- 
fiteth  nothing ;  the  words  that  I  speak  unto  you, 
they  are  spirit,  and  they  are  life."  He  also  quoted 
the  words  of  the  Creed :  "  He  ascended  into 
heaven."  Also,  that  He  was  to  be  like  His 
brethren  in  all  things,  sin  excepted ;  and  added : 
"  He  therefore  cannot  be  in  several  places  at 
once." 

Zwingli  farther  quoted,  in  Greek,  the  words  : 
"  Made  himself  of  no  reputation,  and  took  upon 
him  the  form  of  a  servant."  Luther  interrupted 


MEETING   WITH   LUTHER.  167 

him  with  :  "  Pv,ead  it  to  us  in  Latin  or  in  Ger- 
man, not  in  Greek."  Zwingli  said :  u  Pardon 
me ;  for  twelve  years  past  I  have  made  use  of 
the  Greek  Testament  only."  Luther  continued : 
"  Most  dear  sirs,  since  my  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
says,  '  This  is  my  body,'  I  believe  that  His  body 
is  really  there."  "  How,  then,"  asked  Zwingli, 
"  can  you  avoid  re-establishing  popery  ?  You 
say  Christ's  body  is  there ;  but  if  it  is  in  a  place, 
it  is  in  heaven,  whence  it  follows  it  is  not  in  the 
bread."  Luther  said :  "  I  have  nothing  to  do 
with  mathematical  proofs.  As  soon  as  the  words 
of  consecration  are  pronounced  over  the  bread, 
the  body  is  there,  however  wicked  be  the  priest 
who  pronounces  them/' 

It  was  evident,  at  last,  to  all  that  were  pre- 
sent, that  a  full  agreement  was  not  to  be  hoped 
for;  and  the  reformers  on  both  sides  were  ex- 
horted to  shake  hands  and  separate  in  friendship, 
agreeing  to  differ  in  their  views  of  the  doctrine 
under  discussion.  Zwingli  came  forward  and 
frankly,  as  his  habit  was,  held  out  his  hand, 
which,  at  first,  Luther  refused  to  take.  This 
brought  tears  into  the  eyes  of  Zwingli,  who  had 
not  expected  such  conduct  on  the  part  of  Luther; 
and  the  Landgrave  added  his  earnest  exhorta- 
tion that  they  should  separate  as  friends.     Ac- 


168  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

counts  differ  as  to  the  final  result  in  regard  to 
the  hand  shaking.  Daubigne  says:  "Luther 
then  advanced  towards  the  Swiss,  and  said,  'We 
consent,  and  I  offer  you  the  hand  of  peace  and 
charity.'  The  Swiss  rushed  in  great  emotion 
towards  the  Wittenbergers,  and  all  shook  hands." 

Some  resolutions  of  concord  were  then  drawn 
up,  the  last  words  of  which  are  as  follows: 
"  And  although  we  have  not  been  able  now  to 
agree,  as  to  whether  the  true  body  and  blood  of 
Christ  are  corporeally  present  in  the  bread  and 
wine,  yet  one  party  ought  to  exercise  Christian 
charity  towards  the  other,  as  far  as  each  con- 
science can  possibly  allow  it,  and  both  parties 
ought  to  beseech  God  fervently,  to  lead  us  by 
His  Spirit  to  a  right  understanding.     Amen." 

The  following,  given  by  Hottinger,  as  a  letter 
written  by  Luther  to  a  friend,  also  throws  light 
upon  this  historic  interview :  "  They,"  the 
Swiss,  "  promised  with  many  words,  they  would 
yield  this  much  to  us,  that  the  person  of  Christ 
was  really,  though  spiritually,  present  in  the 
Holy  Supper,  if  we  would  only  esteem  them 
worthy  of  the  name  of  brethren,  and  in  this  way 
feign  a  reconciliation.  Zwingli  begged  it  with 
tears  in  his  eyes  before  the  Landgrave  and  all 
present,  while  he  added  :    l  There  are  no  men 


MEETING   WITH   LUTHER.  169 

with  whom  I  would  rather  be  united  than  with 
the  Wittenbergers.'  They  never  could  endure 
my  saying :  *  You  have  another  spirit  than  we.' 
Finally  we  granted  so  much,  that  it  might  stand 
at  the  conclusion  of  the  article,  not  indeed  that 
we  were  brethren,  but  that  we  would  not  with- 
draw from  them  our  love,  which  is  due  even  to 
an  enemy."  That  Luther  himself  was  pained  at 
the  result  of  the  interview  is  evident  from  ano- 
ther statement  made,  as  Christoffel  informs,  us  in 
writing,  on  his  departure  from  Marburg  :  "  I 
crawled  liked  a  worm  in  the  dust,  and  so  tor- 
mented was  I,  by  the  devil,  that  I  thought  never 
more  to  have  seen  nor  wife,  nor  child  ;  I,  the 
comforter  of  distressed  souls,  was  without  com- 
fort." 

Daubigne  gives  the  following  reflection,  on 
the  close  of  the  conference :  "If  Luther  had 
yielded,  it  might  have  been  feared  that  the 
church  would  fall  into  the  extreme  of  rational- 
ism; if  Zwingli,  that  it  would  rush  into  the  ex- 
treme of  Popery.  It  is  a  salutary  thing  for  the 
church  that  these  different  views  should  be  en- 
tertained; but  it  is  a  pernicious  thing  for  indi- 
viduals to  attach  themselves  to  one  of  them,  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  anathematize  the  others. 
If  it  is  maintained  that  a  wicked  priest  operates 


170  TEE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

this  real  presence  of  Christ  by  three  words,  we 
enter  the  church  of  the  Pope.  Luther  appeared 
sometimes  to  admit  this  doctrine,  but  he  has 
often  spoken  in  a  more  spiritual  manner;  and 
taking  this  great  man  in  his  best  moments,  we 
behold  no  more  than  an  essential  unity  and  a 
secondary  diversity  in  the  two  parties  of  the 
reformation."  It  is  pleasant  to  look  at  the 
matter  in  this  light,  and  here  we  leave  the  sub- 
ject of  the  controversy,  only  adding  a  word  as 
to  Zwingli's  real  views  of  the  Sacrament  as  we 
find  them  expressed  in  his  writings. 

In  the  eighteenth  article  of  his  famous  sixty- 
seven  theses,  he  says :  "  Christ  offered  Himself 
once,  and  is  forever  a  permanent  compensative 
sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  all  believers :  Whence 
we  conclude  that  the  mass  is  not  a  sacrifice,  but 
a  commemoration  of  a  sacrifice,  and  a  seal  of  the 
redemption  which  He  has  procured  for  us."  In 
the  confession  which  he  sent  Francis  I,  shortly 
before  his  death,  he  writes:  "We  believe  that 
Christ  is  truly  present  in  the  Lord's  Supper; 
yea,  we  believe  that  there  is  no  communion 
without  the  presence  of  Christ."  And  again : 
"We  believe  that  the  true  body  of  Christ  is 
eaten  in  the  communion  in  a  sacramental  and 
spiritual   manner  by   the  religious,  believing, 


MEETING  WITH   LUTHER.  171 

and  pious  heart,  as  also  St.  Chrysostom  taught." 
Zwingli  also  compared  the  sacrament  to  a  wed- 
ding ring  which  seals  the  marriage-union ;  and 
he  make3  the  act  of  communing,  a  confession  of 
the  believer's  faith,  and  an  expression  of  grati- 
tude for  blessings  received.  In  this  he  has  been 
instrumental  in  voicing  the  sentiment  of  the 
whole  protestant  church,  nearly.  Calvin  indeed 
emphasized  the  reality  of  the  spiritual  presence 
of  Christ  at  the  supper;  but  had  he  been  spared 
to  see  the  time  of  Calvin,  Zwingli  would,  with- 
out doubt,  have  adopted  his  more  elaborate 
definition,  for  their  views  were  not  conflicting. 

The  conference  at  Marburg  was  now  ended, 
and  Zwingli  returned  in  safety  to  his  home,  to 
resume  his  arduous  duties.  The  pen  of  the  re- 
former wrought  marvellously.  His  published 
books  give  evidence  of  the  industry  with  which 
he  labored.  They  consist  of  four  folio  volumes 
containing  the  following  works, — Articles  of 
Faith. — An  Exhortation,  to  the  whole  State 
of  Switzerland. — A  Supplication  to  the  Bishop 
of  Constance. — Of  the  Certainty  and  Parity  of 
God's  Word. — On  the  Fathers. — Institution  for 
Youth. — A  Good  Shepherd. — Of  Justice,  Divine 
and  Human. — Of  Providence. — A  Treatise  on 
Baptism — On  Original  Sin.    On  True  and  False 


172  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

Religion. — An  Epistle  to  the  Princes  of  Ger- 
many.— On  the  Lord's  Supper. — On  Christian 
Faith. — Commentaries  on  Genesis,  Exodus,  Isa- 
iah, Jeremiah,  and  The  Psalms  from  the  Hebrew 
and  Latin.  His  works  on  the  New  Testament 
are,  History  of  our  Saviour's  Passion. — Notes 
on  the  four  Gospels,  the  Epistles  to  the  Romans, 
Corinthians,  Philippians,  Colossians,  Thessalo- 
nians  and  Hebrews;  the  Epistle  of  James,  and 
the  first  Epistle  of  John.  For  the  most  part 
they  were  written  in  German,  and  afterwards 
translated  into  Latin. 

We  can  but  wonder  how,  amid  all  his  other 
duties,  he  found  time  to  produce  this  vast  amount 
of  literature.  He  once  complained:  "No  man 
is  more  unfortunately  situated  than  I  for  writing 
books.  It  is  owing  to  the  evil  nature  of  the 
times.  For  it  drags  me  out,  who  would  rather 
keep  silence  and  lie  concealed,  and  compels  me 
to  write,  while  it  obstinately  refuses  me  leisure 
to  do  the  work;  and  the  years  requisite  for  the 
employment  of  the  file."  He  sees  the  hand  of 
Providence  in  all  this,  however,  and  would  be 
willing  to  have  all  his  works  pass  into  oblivion, 
if  he  could  only  get  the  Holy  Scriptures  into 
general  circulation,  and  use.  During  all  this 
time  he  preached  incessantly,  besides  attending 


MEETING   WITH    LUTHER.  173 

conferences  at  Bern  and  elsewhere  in  which  the 
chief  labor  of  formulating  the  doctrines  of  the 
Eeformed  fell  upon  him.  At  the  same  time,  he 
went  forward  with  his  pastoral  work  in  Zurich, 
received  a  multitude  of  visitors,  and  attended 
to  the  training  of  his  own  children. 

His  heart  was  with  his  family,  while  his  mind 
was  at  work  for  the  cause  he  had  espoused. 
This  we  see  from  a  letter  which  he  wrote  while 
at  Bern.  "  Grace  and  peace  from  God,  dearest 
wife.  I  praise  God  that  he  hath  given  you  a 
happy  recovery.  He  will  grant  us  grace  to  bring 
up  our  children  according  to  his  will.  Pray  to 
God  for  me,  and  for  us  all.  Greet  for  me  all  our 
children,  especially  comfort  Margaretha  in  my 
name."  This  shows  us  what  a  kind  heart  dwelt 
in  Zwingli.  Christoffel  says:  "This  man,  who 
investigated  with  such  penetration,  and  zeal,  the 
sacred  depths  in  which  truth  conceals  itself  from 
the  unconsecrated  eye ;  who  wrought  in  the  vine- 
yard of  the  Lord  with  the  lofty  ardor  of  an 
apostle — this  man  we  often  find,  in  his  hours  of 
recreation,  at  the  cradle  of  his  little  one,  sing- 
ing children's  songs  to  the  accompaniment  of  the 
lute,  or  some  other  instrument,  which  he  knew." 

This  love  to  his  family  should  endear  him  to 
every  heart. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

DEATH  AT    CAPPEL. 

A  glance  at  almost  any  picture,  representing 
the  city  of  Zurich,  will  afford  the  reader  a  view 
of  the  water-front,  where  the  strong  current  of 
the  Limmat  sweeps  onward  towards  the  Rhine. 
A  few  steps  away  from  the  quay  which  borders 
the  right  bank,  and,  as  already  described,  rest- 
ing on  the  side  of  the  terrace,  stayed  by  the 
ancient  buttresses  built  before  the  Reformation 
period,  stands  the  cathedral  in  which  Zwingli 
preached.  A  little  farther  from  the  river  bank 
we  may  see  the  house  in  which  he  lived.  It  is 
a  plain,  but  substantial  structure,  having  its 
gable  towards  the  church,  with  two  stories  and 
attic,  in  the  latter  of  which  there  are  two  win- 
dows, while  in  each  of  the  lower  stories  there 
are  four  windows ;  so  that,  by  this  mark,  tho 
house  is  easily  identified.  A  large  and  pleasant 
garden  adjoins  the  house  on  the  south  side, 
giving  the  place  a  home-like,  and  inviting,  ap- 
174 


DEATH   AT   CAPPEL.  175 

pearance.  Here  it  was  that  Zwingli  dwelt  in 
joy,  with  his  household,  delighting  to  entertain 
the  many  guests,  who  came  to  him  for  temporal 
and  spiritual  comfort. 

Many  were  the  afflicted  pastors  that  fled  to 
this  refuge,  when  the  persecutions  grew  threat- 
ening and  the  outlook  for  the  Eeformed  was 
gloomy,  and  the  heavy  hand  of  the  enemy  lay 
upon  them.  Those  who  came,  like  poor  ATyconius, 
who  before  this  had  been  thrust  out  of  Lucerne, 
were  sure  of  a  hearty  welcome,  and  besides 
were  refreshed  and  encouraged  by  the  cheerful- 
ness of  the  great  Reformer,  who,  up  to  the  time 
of  which  we  are  now  about  to  write,  was  noted 
for  his  wonderful  courage  and  hope.  He  used 
to  say :  "  Whoever  is  filled  with  the  Spirit  of 
God,  is  ever  on  the  alert  to  do  something  for 
the  benefit  of  his  fellow-men,  is  unwearied  in 
every  good  work,  and  rather  is  fearful  that  he 
may  do  less  than  he  ought.  "We  must  there- 
fore be  active  and  fervent  in  our  labors,  not 
sleepy  nor  slothful;  we  must  not  withdraw 
from  the  divine  calling,  nor  take  holiday,  but 
be  ever  on  the  alert,  and  bear  a  ready  hand  to 
the  work." 

This  injunction  to  be  diligent  in  labor,  the 
Reformer  himself  fully  exemplified  in  his  own 


176  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

life.  Of  naturally  a  strong  physical  constitu- 
tion, frugal  in  diet;  as  in  his  youth  still  using 
milk  and  the  other  products  of  the  dairy,  as 
his  chief  articles  of  food,  he  was  enabled  to 
undergo  great  strains  of  labor  and  anxiety. 
When  in  1526,  CEcolampadius,  and  Haller  were 
disputing  with  Dr.  Eck,  in  the  council  at  Ba- 
den, Zwingli  who,  remained  in  Zurich,  did  not 
retire  to  bed  for  six  weeks,  being  occupied  the 
whole  night,  in  preparing  answers  to  the  charges 
of  the  papists.  Only  the  strong  frame  of  a 
mountaineer  could  support  nature  under  the 
heavy  pressure  that  lay  upon  him.  His  home 
was  indeed  his  castle;  there  he  found  loving 
hearts  and  helpful  counsel,  and  from  thence  he 
went  forth,  with  renewed  strength,  to  his  ap- 
pointed work,  in  the  pulpit,  the  council,  and 
the  pastorate. 

But  as  we  have  intimated,  a  change  in  the 
posture  of  affairs  at  Zurich  was  now  at  hand. 
The  treaty  made  with  the  five  papal  cantons  at 
the  first  war  of  Cappel  was  extremely  distaste- 
ful to  the  latter.  They  saw  that  the  Reforma- 
tion was  steadily  gaining  ground.  Zwingli,  its 
great  leader,  was  indefatigable  in  his  efforts,  and 
was  winning  many  hearts  not  only  in  Zurich, 
but  also  in  Bern,  and  in  St.  Gaul,  and  in  the 


DEATH  AT  CAPPEL.  177 

regions  surrounding  the  Toggenburg.  It  was 
evident  that  the  five  cantons  were  preparing  for 
another  warlike  demonstration.  The  Reformed 
looked  to  a  union  of  those  who  were  favorable 
to  their  views.  Zwingli  was  especially  in  accord 
with  this  plan. 

Slanderous  reports  were  now  freely  circulated 
throughout  the  land  by  the  papists,  and  this 
was  done  while  the  treaty  was  in  full  force  that 
no  abusive  language  should  be  used.  It  was 
said :  '  Zwingli  is  a  thief,  a  murderer,  an  arch- 
heretic,'  and  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  five 
cantons  to  sweep  away  the  entire  body  of  Re- 
formers from  the  face  of  the  earth.  Against  the 
pastor  of  Zurich  the  fierceness  of  the  intended 
persecution  was  aimed.  One  pensioner  said  : 
"  I  shall  have  no  rest,  until  I  have  thrust  my 
sword  up  to  the  hilt  in  the  body  of  this  impious 
wretch."  Threats  were  followed  by  deeds  of 
violence.  The  five  cantons  pursued  all  among 
those  who  loved  the  Word  of  God.  They  flung 
them  into  prison,  imposed  fines  upon  them, 
brutally  tormented  them,  and  mercilessly  ex- 
pelled them  from  their  country.  It  was  evident 
that  this  state  of  affairs  could  not  last  much 
longer. 

The  Bernese  and  Zurichers,  now  acting  in 
12 


178  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

concert,  while  casting  about  them  for  some 
means  to  check  these  outrages,  were  reminded 
that,  at  a  former  time,  the  five  cantons  had 
established  a  blockade  against  the  Keformed. 
They  now  resolved  to  turn  the  tables,  and  close 
up  their  markets  against  the  foe,  until  they 
allowed  the  Word  of  God  to  be  freely  preached, 
according  to  the  treaty.  Against  this  course 
Zwingli  was  strongly  opposed.  He  believed 
that  by  this  means  many  worthy  people  would 
suffer  hardship,  that  the  five  cantons  would  only 
be  aggravated  to  adopt  more  extreme  measures 
and  that  thus  the  difficulties  of  the  situation 
would  be  greatly  increased.  He  was  rather  in 
favor  of  active  measures  ;  for  even  making  a 
declaration  of  war,  and  pushing  the  issue,  that 
he  now  saw  was  inevitable,  to  a  conclusion  at 
once. 

But  the  pastor  of  Zurich,  whose  advice  in 
matters  of  religion  had  been  so  widely  honored, 
found  that  he  had  entered  a  different  field  when 
he  assumed  to  give  counsel  in  matters  of  state. 
The  measures  of  the  blockade  having  been 
agreed  upon,  it  became  his  duty  to  announce 
the  fact  from  his  pulpit.  Daubigne  says  :  "  On 
the  following  Sunday  Zwingli  appeared  in  his 
church,  where  an  immense  crowd  was  waiting 


DEATH   AT   CAPPEL.  179 

for  him.  His  piercing  eye  easily  discovered  the 
dangers  of  the  measure,  in  a  political  point  of 
view,  and  his  Christian  heart  deeply  felt  all  its 
cruelty.  His  soul  was  overburdened,  his  eyes 
downcast.  After  the  regular  services  were 
concluded,  he  proceeded  to  read  the  resolutions 
which  had  been  adopted,  declaring  that  the 
Waldstetters  were  to  be  excluded  from  their 
markets.  But  he  immediately  added  his  pro- 
test :  '  Men  of  Zurich  !  you  deny  food  to  the 
five  cantons,  as  to  evil-doers  :  well !  let  the  blow 
follow  the  threat,  rather  than  reduce  poor  inno- 
cent creatures  to  starvation.  If,  by  not  taking 
the  offensive,  you  appear  to  believe  that  there  is 
not  sufficient  reason  for  punishing  the  Wald- 
stetters, and  yet  you  refuse  them  food  and  drink, 
you  will  force  them,  by  this  line  of  conduct,  to 
take  up  arms,  to  raise  their  hands,  and  to  in- 
flict punishment  upon  you.  This  is  the  fate  that 
awaits  you.'  "  A  sad  but  true  prophecy,  as  the 
sequel  proved,  and  one  that  would  involve  the 
Eeformer  in  its  painful  result. 

The  difficulty  of  enforcing  the  orders  given 
for  the  blockade  may  be  easily  imagined.  What- 
ever indignities  the  five  cantons  had  heaped 
upon  the  Eeformed,  it  was  unwise  in  them  to 
adopt  this  expedient  for  defence.     The  forest 


180  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

cantons,  Lucerne,  Zug,  Schwitz,  Uri,  and  Unter- 
walden  were  bound  in  firm  bonds  to  the  inter- 
ests of  the  papacy.  Their  territory  lay  between 
that  of  Zurich  and  Bern;  the  effect  of  the 
blockade  therefore  was  to  hem  them  in  and  cut 
off  their  supplies,  which  they  usually  obtained 
from  the  larger  towns,  like  Zurich,  Bern,  and 
Basel,  all  of  which  under  the  influence  of 
Zwingli  and  others,  had  embraced  the  Eeformed 
faith.  The  union  of  Zurich  with  Bern  was 
cemented  by  the  conference  which  had  been 
held  in  the  latter  city  early  in  the  year  1528, 
which  lasted  for  eighteen  days,  and  in  which 
Zwingli  distinguished  himself,  both  in  the  part 
he  took  in  the  learned  discussions,  and  in  the 
two  famous  sermons  which  he  preached  on  the 
occasion.  From  that  time  onward  the  Bernese 
acted  with  Zurich;  but  in  the  matter  of  the 
blockade,  the  greatest  burden  of  defence  would 
fall  upon  the  latter,  while  the  former  had  been 
the  means  of  bringing  it  about. 

The  measures  of  the  blockade  were  now  en- 
forced; the  Reformed  closed  their  markets 
against  the  five  cantons,  allowing  them  to  re- 
ceive neither  corn  nor  wine,  salt,  iron  nor  steel, 
until  they  should  allow  the  Gospel  to  be  preached 
among  them  without  persecution.     When  the 


DEATH   AT   CAPPEL.  181 

wagons  of  the  people  of  the  five  cantons,  were 
driven  towards  the  large  towns,  they  were 
stopped  at  the  border  of  the  canton,  unloaded, 
upset,  and  turned  into  barricades  for  soldiers. 
The  year  previous  had  been  one  of  great  scarcity 
in  the  forest  cantons,  and  the  Sweating-sickness 
had  broken  out  among  the  people;  and  now,  worst 
of  all,  their  supplies  were  cut  off  by  the  very 
cantons  against  whom  they  had  held  a  bitter 
grudge,  since  the  peace  of  Cappel.  The  people 
of  Schwitz,  appeared  openly  with  pine-branches 
in  their  hats,  the  old  form  of  a  declaration  of 
war.  Their  allies  were  everywhere  taking  down 
their  halberds  and  sharpening  them  for  their  in- 
tended bloody  work.  Recruiting  went  briskly 
forward,  forces  were  mustering,  and  tidings  were 
borne  by  each  new  comer  to  Zurich,  that  the  war 
would  soon  begin. 

And  what  preparations  are  the  people  making 
for  defence  ?  Life  went  on  as  usual  at  Zurich  ; 
the  people  seemed  to  be  at  ease,  and  the  council 
payed  no  heed  to  the  alarming  tidings  which 
came  to  them  'from  beyond  the  mountains. 
Zwingli  went  forward  with  his  daily  labors.  He 
preached  at  the  regular  hours;  he  visited  the 
sick,  and  neglected  none  of  his  usual  duties. 
The  early  morning  hours  he  devoted  specially 


182  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

to  prayer  and  the  study  of  the  Scriptures,  till 
the  hour  arrived  which  summoned  him  into  the 
church  to  preach,  or  to  give  the  lecture  in  the 
hall  of  the  Academy.  In  the  evening,  as  usual, 
he  was  engaged  with  his  extensive  correspond- 
ence ;  now  encouraging  the  people  of  St.  Gaul, 
who  had  taken  a  noble  stand  for  the  truth,  cast- 
ing out  all  the  images  from  their  houses  of  wor- 
ship ;  or  writing  to  those  who  sought  spiritual 
counsel  and  comfort.  But  the  spirit  of  former 
days  had  fled  from  him.  The  sound  of  music  is 
now  seldom  heard  in  his  apartments.  He  pores 
over  the  gloomy  Prophecies  of  Jeremiah,  as  if 
he  found  something  in  those  lamentations  suited 
to  the  distracted  condition  of  his  own  times  and 
country. 

One  night  he  went  out,  with  some  friends,  to 
confer  with  Parson  Bullinger  at  Bremgarten. 
During  this  nocturnal  conference,  three  town 
councillors  were  stationed  as  sentinels  before 
the  parsonage.  Before  daylight  Zwingli  took 
his  way  homeward  ;  his  mind  was  filled  with  a 
presentiment  of  his  approaching  death.  Bathed 
in  tears,  he  said  at  parting:  "0  my  dear 
Henry,  may  God  protect  you.  Be  faithful  to 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  His  church."  And 
so  they  parted.    The  advice  seemed  most  timely, 


DEATH   AT   CAPPEL.  183 

in  view  of  the  fact  that  Bullinger  became  his 
successor  in  Zurich.  The  Reformer  once,  in 
those  days,  gave  vent  to  his  feelings  in  his  pul- 
pit, in  the  following  language  :  "  I  see  that  the 
most  faithful  warnings  cannot  save  you  ;  you 
will  not  punish  the  pensioners  of  the  foreigner. 
They  have  too  firm  a  support  among  us !  A 
chain  is  prepared — behold  it  entire — it  unrolls 
link  after  link — soon  they  will  bind  me  with  it, 
and  more  than  one  pious  Zuricher  with  me.  .  . 
It  is  against  me  they  are  enraged  !  I  am  ready ; 
I  submit  to  the  Lord's  will.  But  these  people 
shall  never  be  my  masters  1 " 

The  Zurichers  still  continuing  passive,  Zwingli, 
after  a  long  struggle  with  himself,  and  earnest 
prayer,  handed  in  his  resignation  to  the  council, 
stating  that  he  had  labored  among  them  for 
eleven  years,  but  that  he  could  not  now  arouse 
them  to  a  sense  of  their  common  peril,  and 
therefore  asked  them  to  relieve  him  of  his  pas- 
torate. This  they  refused  to  do ;  and  the  Re- 
former, with  his  characteristic  sense  of  honor, 
would  not  voluntarily  leave  them  in  the  time  of 
trial.  A  messenger  now  arrived  from  Lucerne, 
with  the  tidings  that  the  standard  of  battle  had 
been  planted  in  the  great  square.  This  was  the 
rallying  point  for  all  the  soldiers  of  the  five 


184  THE   MOUNTAIN    BOY. 

cantons.  A  hasty  proclamation  was  sent  forth 
to  the  effect  that  the  attacks  made  upon  the 
treaties,  the  discord  sown  throughout  the  Con- 
federation, and  especially  the  refusal  to  sell  them 
provisions,  was  the  cause  of  the  warfare.  Hardly 
had  the  messengers,  bearing  these  despatches, 
departed,  before  the  army  was  put  in  motion. 
Upon  entering  the  free  districts,  the  soldiers  en- 
tered the  churches  and  observed  that  the  images 
had  been  removed ;  this  aroused  their  anger, 
and  they  pillaged  and  plundered  without  limit, 
especially  in  the  houses  of  the  pastors.  At  the 
same  time,  the  division  that  was  to  form  the 
main  army  marched  upon  Zug,  thence  to  move 
upon  Zurich. 

The  Zurichers  were  under  a  complete  delu- 
sion ;  the  members  of  the  council  simply  said, 
when  the  first  news  of  the  war  came,  that  the 
five  cantons  were  only  making  a  little  noise  to 
frighten  them.  But  when  the  enemy  appeared 
at  Zug  refugees  hastened  to  Zurich  with  their 
woful  tidings.  Now  the  whole  city  was 
aroused.  A  straggling  -army  was-  hastily 
brought  together ;  a  few  energetic  men  pushed 
on  to  the  old  battle  field,  on  the  border  line  of 
their  territory,  at  Cappel.  This  had  been  the 
seat  of  an   ancient  convent,  hence  the   name 


DEATH   AT   CAPPEL.  185 

Cappel,  or  Chapel.  Citizens  with  members  of 
the  council  were  seizing  their  arms  ;  a  reign  of 
terror  had  commenced,  and  a  sudden  attack 
upon  the  defenceless  city  was  feared.  It  was 
needful  that  men  should  go  on  towards  Cappel, 
that  the  blood-thirsty  cantoners  might  be  turned 
back.  A  horse,  ready  saddled,  stood  pawing 
the  ground,  and  champing  his  bit,  in  front  of 
the  Parsonage  in  Zurich.  He  is  to  bear  his 
master  away  to  the  battle-field.  At  the  orders 
of  the  council,  and  in  keeping  with  the  old 
Swiss  customs,  he  must  attend  the  little  army 
as  chaplain,  that  he  may  cheer  up  the  men,  and 
give  comfort  to  the  dying.  We  have  seen  that 
Zwingli  was  without  any  hope  that  the  expedi- 
tion would  be  successful.  He  went  forth  from 
a  sense  of  duty,  under  the  presentiment  that  he 
would  never  see  his  dear  wife  and  children  on 
earth  again. 

Poor  Anna  Zwingli,  had  a  double  portion  of 
sorrow  to  bear  that  day.  Her  early  life  had 
been  filled  with  sadness,  but  in  later  years,  she 
had  been  happy  in  the  home  of  her  husband, 
with  her  little  ones  growing  up  around  her. 
But  to-day  that  sweet  cup  of  domestic  bliss  is 
embittered  by  fears  and  anxious  forebodings. 
Her  husband,  her  son  Gerold,  and  her  brother 


186  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

are  all  hastening  away  to  the  battle-field,  she 
will  never  see  them  more  until  they  meet  in 
the  land  where  there  are  no  partings.  Zwingli 
took  down  his  armor  from  the  wall ;  he  bade 
his  w7eeping  wife  and  children  farewell,  and  as 
if  riding  to  his  martyrdom,  as  he  was,  without 
enthusiasm,  without  hope,  he  followed,  with  the 
little  army,  along  the  windings  of  the  Sihl,  up 
towards  the  top  of  the  Albis. 

When  on  the  way,  if  any  one  spoke  to 
Zwingli,  he  wras  found  firm  in  faith :  he  did  not 
conceal  the  presentiment  that  he  should  never 
see  his  church  or  family  again.  There  was  but 
little  enthusiasm  on  the  part  of  the  troops 
either.  It  w?as  rather  the  march  of  a  funeral 
procession  than  of  an  army,  except  that  all  was 
disorder  and  confusion.  Along  the  whole  route, 
some  ten  or  twelve  miles  distance  from  Zurich, 
messengers  came  running  in  breathless  haste 
urging  them  to  come  to  the  assistance  of  their 
brethren. 

When  they  were  half  way  to  Cappel,  and 
climbing  up  the  steep  side  of  Mt.  Albis,  they 
heard  the  report  of  the  first  shot  fired  by  the 
enemy.  It  had  passed  over  the  convent  of 
Cappel ;  and  was  the  signal  for  immediate  action. 
This  nerved  the  men  to  renewed  effort;  they 


DEATH  AT  CAPPEL.  187 

pushed  on,  overburdened  with  armor,  dragging 
the  artillery,  panting,  fainting,  leaning  against 
the  trees  for  a  moment's  rest,  and  appearing  to 
be  stragglers  rather  than  soldiers. 

Once  on  the  summit,  they  paused  a  moment 
to  take  breath,  and  look  down  into  the  region 
where  the  battle  was  already  raging ;  to  many 
of  them  it  was  to  be  a  field  of  death. 

Here  the  little  army  halted  for  counsel ;  some 
were  for  delaying  until  more  recruits  should 
come  in.  But  the  advanced  guard  of  the  Zu- 
richers,  were  already  engaging  the  enemy, 
within  their  sight,  having  only  a  handful  of 
men  while  the  enemy  were  present  in  over- 
whelming numbers.  Zwingli  said  :  "  How  can 
we  stay  calmly  upon  these  heights,  while  we 
hear  the  shots  that  are  fired  at  our  fellow- 
citizens  ?  In  the  name  of  God  I  will  march  to- 
wards our  warriors,  prepared  to  die  in  order  to 
save  them."  This  is  indeed  a  critical  moment ! 
0  that  some  Frederic  the  Wise  were  here  to 
bear  this  man  of  God  hence,  even  as  he  bore 
Luther  away  to  the  castle  of  Wartburg  !  Bat 
this  was  not  to  be ;  there  was  one  life  that  all 
that  army  of  the  Cantons  had  been  marshalled 
to  extinguish,  and  the  hour  of  their  triumph 
was  at  hand. 


188  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

The  tide  of  battle  soon  swept  over  the  place 
where  the  Reformer,  and  the  troops  of  Zurich, 
were  passing.  From  a  dense  piece  of  woods, 
near  at  hand,  the  enemy  poured  forth  a  mur- 
derous volley  which  swept  down  many  Zurichers 
before  it.  Soon  after  this  the  Reformer,  while 
he  was  bending  over  a  fallen  countryman  to 
give  him  Christian  comfort,  was  struck  on  his 
helmet  by  a  stone,  with  such  force  that  he  was 
thrown  to  the  ground.  In  this  fact  we  see  the 
importance  of  Zwingli  having  armor  upon  his 
person.  Though  lie  carried  weapons  of  the  old 
Swiss  pattern,  he  did  not  use  them.  The  chap- 
lains in  those  times,  wore  armor,  as  chaplains 
now  wTear  uniforms.  He  soon  summoned  up 
strength  to  rise  again,  when  he  received  a  fatal 
stroke  from  a  spear.  He  again  fell  and  ex- 
claimed :  "  What  evil  is  this  ?  They  can  kill  the 
body,  but  they  cannot  kill  the  soul."  These 
were  his  last  words. 

Night  spread  her  mantle  over  the  scene  of 
carnage.  Some  prowling  soldiers,  discovered 
Zwingli  lying  near  a  pear  tree,  against  which 
his  body  partly  leaned  :  his  hands  were  firmly 
clasped,  his  lips  moved  in  prayer,  while  his 
eyes  were  directed  heavenward:  "Will  you 
confess,  shall  we  fetch  a  priest  ?"  they  cry  to 


DEATH   AT  CAPPEL.  189 

him.  He  only  shakes  his  head.  "Then  call 
upon  the  mother  of  God,  and  the  blessed  saints, 
in  your  heart,"  they  cry.  The  dying  man 
heeds  them  not.  The  soldiers  uttered  a  volley 
of  oaths  over  the  fallen  man,  saying :  "  No  doubt 
you  are  one  of  those  heretics  of  Zurich."  One 
man,  being  anxious  to  know  who  he  was,  and  as 
it  was  already  growing  dark,  stooped  down, 
raised  his  head  and  turned  it  toward  the  camp- 
fire,  which  had  been  kindled  near  by,  and  then 
dropping  it  heavily,  exclaimed,  u  I  think  it  is 
Zwingli "  !  An  officer,  named  Captain  Bockin- 
ger,  from  Unterwalden,  a  papist,  and  a  pensioner, 
upon  hearing  the  name  Zwingli,  hurried  to  the 
spot.  He  said :  "  Zwingli !  that  vile  heretic, 
that  rascal,  that  traitor !  Die  then,  obstinate 
heretic  !  "  and  suiting  the  action  to  the  word,  he 
struck  him  with  his  sword,  inflicting  a  fatal 
wound. 

Thus  on  October,  12th,  1531,  the  spirit  of  that 
noble  man  took  its  flight  to  that  God  whose  ser- 
vice had  been,  for  years  past,  his  delightful  em- 
ploy. The  morning  dawned.  The  victors  spread 
themselves  upon  the  field  to  gloat  over  the  havoc 
they  had  wrought.  They  found  the  remains  of 
many  noble  men  who  had  died  in  the  vain  at- 
tempt to  turn  away  danger  from  their  homes. 


190  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

Some  twenty  pastors  of  the  Eeformed  lay 
stretched  upon  the  field,  among  the  slain.  At 
last  the  conquerers  reached  the  pear-tree  where 
lay  the  lifeless  body  of  Zwingli.  "  Immediately 
the  drums  beat  to  muster ;  the  dead  body  was 
tried,  and  it  was  decreed  that  it  should  be  quar- 
tered for  treason  against  the  Confederation,  and 
then  burnt  for  heresy.  The  executioner  of  Lu- 
cerne carried  out  the  sentence.  Flames  con- 
sumed Zwingli's  disjointed  members ;  the  ashes 
of  swine  were  mingled  with  his  :  and  a  lawless 
multitude  rushing  upon  his  remains,  flung  them 
to  the  four  winds  of  heaven."  Some  kind- 
hearted  Reformers,  it  is  said,  have  planted 
young  pear-trees  on  the  spot  where  Zwingli  fell ; 
as  each  successive  tree  grew  old,  therefore,  a 
new  tree  was  ready  to  take  its  place,  and  a 
°  Zwingli  pear-tree,"  is  found  here  at  the  pre- 
sent time.  Also  a  metal  plate  is  inserted  in  the 
rock  near  by,  and  at  the  road-side,  bearing  a 
German  and  Latin  inscription,  descriptive  of 
Zwingli's  death.  Yet  he  has  a  better  monument 
than  this  in  the  affection  of  many  Christian 
hearts. 

After  some  time  of  warlike  demonstration 
between  the  two  armies,  following  that  bloody 
contest   on   the   12th  of  October,  negotiations 


DEATH   AT   CAPPEL.  191 

were  entered  into  looking  to  a  final  peace.  On 
the  16th  of  November,  the  following  articles 
were  adopted.  "  The  Reformation  shall  be 
guaranteed  in  Zurich,  and  all  her  immediate 
dependencies,  as  well  as  in  other  places  where  it 
has  been  received ;  yet  all  those,  who  may  wish 
to  return  to  the  mass,  or  to  prove  by  a  new 
vote,  which  is  the  prevailing  party,  shall  be  at 
liberty  to  do  so.  Church  property  was  to  be 
divided  according  to  the  census,  and  Zurich 
pledged  herself  to  abstain  from  any  farther  in- 
tervention, where  she  had  no  claim  to  rule." 
And  so  ended  the  second  war  of  Cappel. 

Poor  Anna  Zwingli,  when  the  tidings  were 
borne  to  her  of  her  husband's  death,  sank  down 
upon  her  knees,  and  with  her  weeping  children 
around  her  called  upon  the  God  of  the  widow, 
and  the  fatherless.  Her  son,  her  brother,  and 
her  brother-in-law  had  also  been  slain.  But 
she  knew  where  to  turn  in  her  overwhelming 
affliction  ;  she  trusted  in  Christ. 

Zwingli  was  not  forty-eight  years  of  age 
when  he  thus  laid  down  his  life  for  his  coun- 
try, and  for  his  faith  in  God.  He  still  lives,  in 
the  affection  of  all  those  who  long  to  see  the 
human  mind  freed  from  the  bonds  of  ignorance, 
and  the  soul  freed  from  the  shackles  of  spiritual 


192  THE   MOUNTAIN   BOY. 

despotism.  Wherever  the  religion  of  Protest- 
antism is  spread  over  the  earth,  there  will 
men  admire  the  learning,  the  loftiness  of  soul, 
the  courage  and  the  piety  of  Ulric  Zwingli. 

"  Servant  of  God,  well  done  ! 

Rest  from  Thy  loved  employ  ; 
The  battle  fought,  the  victory  won, 
Enter  Thy  Master's  joy  ! 

The  voice  at  twilight  came  ; 

He  started  up  to  hear  ; 
A  mortal  arrow  pierced  his  frame ; 

He  fell,  but  felt  no  fear. 

His  spirit  with  a  bound 

Left  its  encumbering  clay  : 
His  tent,  at  sunrise,  on  the  ground 

A  darkened  ruin  lay. 

The  pains  of  death  are  past, 

Labor  and  sorrow  cease, 
And  life's  long  warfare  closed  at  last, 

His  soul  is  found  in  peace. 

Soldier  of  Christ,  well  done ! 

Praise  be  Thy  new  employ  ; 
And  while  eternal  ages  run, 

Rest  in  Thy  Saviour's  joy !  " 


